V 


V    S  s 


OF  THE 

Theological   Seminary, 

RR INC  ETON,    N.  J. 

<^«*«. ^r?r*^:^^... Division.. . . .  _ 

'S?^^^/,...^..4fe.....?^ Section 


Book, N( 


r-^~  y~ 


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4 


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SERMONS    AND    ADDRESSES, 


32\\UttXf,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the.  year  1846,  l)y 
D.  L.  Carroll,  in  tlic  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court 
of  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


Wm.  S.  Vot'No,  Pi  inter. 


SEEMONS 


ADDRESSES, 


VARIOUS  SUBJECTS. 


REV,  D.  L.  (JARROLL,  D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

LINDSAY    &    BLAKISTON, 

184  6. 


PREFACE. 


Prefaces  are  seldom  read,  because  they  are  ofieii 
unnecessary.  They  are  generally  of  an  apologetic 
character,  with  a  large  sjricing  of  mock  modesty ; 
craving,  in  behalf  of  the  author,  the  indulgence  of  the 
public  for  the  defects  that  may  appear  in  his  work, 
and  recounting  sundry  disadvantages  under  which  he 
has  laboured  in  its  preparation  for  the  press;  from 
all  which  it  is  presumed  that  it  will  be  inferred  how 
much  better  he  would  have  done  in  more  propi- 
tious circumstances.  No  man  in  health,  and  with  the 
ordinary  allotment  of  life,  is  entitled  to  the  privilege 
of  making  an  apology,  or  of  being  heard  in  it,  for 
any  thing  that  he  chooses  to  publish  voluntarily,  and 
not  by  necessity. 

The  author  of  this  volume  feels  justified  in  giving 
a  reason  for  that  lack  of  accuracy  and  polish  which 
will  be  found  in  the  style  of  some  of  these  sermons 
and  addresses.     Ills  health  has  been  so  feeble  for 


VI  PREFACE. 

nionlhs  past,  that  lie  has  not  only  not  been  able  lo 
rc-\vri(c  the  discourses,  but  has  with  difliculty  borne 
the  confinement  and  labour  of  looking  them  over, 
and  rendering  them  legible  by  correcting  the  chiro- 
graphical  and  other  trifling  errors.  Written  amidst 
all  the  cares  of  pastoral  life,  and  in  the  hurry  of 
weekly  preparation  for  the  pulpit,  these  sermons  are 
now  published  with  little  alteration  of  the  original 
drafts. 

In  the  prospectus  it  was  intimated,  that  the  work 
would  mainly  consist  of  occasional  sermons,  and  of 
addresses  and  lectures,  &c.  The  desire  of  com- 
prising in  the  volume  what  might  promise  to  be  the 
most  extensively  and  enduringly  useful,  has  induced 
the  author  to  change  his  original  purpose,  and  to  in- 
clude fewer  occasional,  and  more  strictly  practical 
sermons  in  the  work,  and  to  exclude  several  addresses 
and  lectures  which  he  intended  to  insert.  Having 
made  the  selections  with  this  design,  and  acting  ac- 
cording to  the  best  judgment  he  could  form  in  the 
case,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  volume  may  disap- 
point some  of  his  former  parishioners  who  may  re- 
member sermons  which  they  have  heard  him  deliver, 
and  which  are  regarded  by  them  as  much  better  than 
any  that  are  found  amongst  the  number  now  pub- 


PREFACE.  Vll 


lished.  In  conversation  wilh  the  author,  some  of 
his  friends  have  expressed  great  surprise  and  regret 
to  learn  that  the  present  volume  will  not  include  two 
sermons  which  he  preached  about  three  years  ago, 
on  "  The  government  of  the  thoughts.'''' 

In  reference  to  this  case,  and  to  other  sermons 
that  some  may  be  disappointed  in  not  finding  in  the 
work,  he  would  say,  that  should  it  please  a  benignant 
Providence  to  prolong  his  life,  and  grant  him  a  suf- 
ficient degree  of  health,  he  designs  to  publish  another 
volume,  of  equal  size,  and  perhaps  of  better  selection, 
provided  his  friends  after  reading  the  present  shall 
feel  disposed  to  encourage  him  to  do  so. 

He  has  had  none  of  the  pangs  and  throes  of  author- 
ship so  keenly  felt  by  those  who  write  for  fame. 
MayCs  judgment  in  reference  to  this  or  to  any  thing 
else  pertaining  to  him,  is  now  a  matter  of  little  mo- 
ment to  him.  The  preparation  of  this  volume  for 
the  press,  has  furnished  employment  for  hours  that 
otherwise  might  have  moved  heavily,  and  given  rise 
to  a  slender  hope  of  usefulness  even  at  the  sunset  of 
life's  closing  day.  And  if  the  ever  blessed  God  in 
the  depths  of  his  condescending  goodness  through 
Jesus  Christ,  is  pleased  to  accompany  the  truths  con- 
tained in  tliis  work  by  his  Holy  Spirit  to  the  con- 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

sciences  and  the  hearts  of  readers,  promoting  the  edi- 
fication of  Christians,  and  the  awakening  and  con- 
version of  sinners,  the  author's  most  ardent  wishes, 
aspirings,  and  anticipations  will  then  have  been  real- 
ized. To  Him  who  can  alone  give  it  success,  and 
in  whose  hands  are  the  hearts  of  all  men,  this  volume 
is  now  humbly  and  cheerfully  committed,  by 

The  Author. 

Newark,  Del,,  July  30,  1846. 


CONTENTS, 


SERMONS. 


SERMON  I. 

The  Method  by  which  the  Christian's  Faith  becomes 

VICTORIOUS  over  THE  WoRLD, 13 

"Who  is  he  that  overcometh  the  world,  but  he  that  be- 
lieveth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God  V' — 1  John  v.  5. 

SERMON  II. 

The  Nature   and  Advantages  of   drawing  nigh   to 

God, 34 

'•Draw  nigh  to  God,  and  He  will  draw  nigh  to  you." — 

James  iv.  8. 

SERMON  III. 

The  Design  of  Christ  in  the  Conversion  of  a  Soul,   .     53 
"  But  I  follow  after,  if  that  I  may  apprehend  that  for  which, 

also,  I  am  apprehended  of  Christ  .lesus." — Philip,  iii.  12. 

SERMON  IV. 

The  Source^and  Security  of  the  Christian's  Life,     .     72 

"Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also." — John  xiv.  19. 

SERMON  V. 

The  Foundation  of  moral  Courage,  and  some  of  the 
Exigencies  that  call  for  its  Exercise  in  the  Minis- 
try OF  the  Gospel, 90 

"As  an  adamant,  harder  than  flint,  have  I  made  thy  fore- 
head :  fear  them  not,  neither  be  dismayed  at  their  looks,  thougli 
they  be  a  rebellious  house." — Ez,  iii.  9, 


X  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  VI. 

The  Enormity   of  the   Sinner's   Conduct  in   making 
LIGHT  OF  THE  Invitations  OF  THE  Gospel.     .     .     .     .118 
'■  But  they  made  light  of  it." — Matt.  xxii.  5. 

SERMON  VII. 

Christian  Reproof. — the  Obligations  to  this  Duty, 
— THE  Character  of  those  who  are  to  administer 
IX. — THE  Spirit  in  which  it  should  be  given, — and 

ITS  HAPPY  Results. 135 

^•Let  the  righteous  smite  me;  it  shall  be  a  kindness:  and 

let  him  reprove  me;  it  shall  be  an  excellent  oil,  which  shall 

not  break  my  head ;  for  yet  my  prayer  also  shall  be  in  their 

calamity. "^ — Psalm  cxli.  5. 

SERMON  VIII. 

The  Ministerial  Office, 152 

■•'  But  as  we  were  allowed  of  God  to  be  put  in  trust  of  the 
gospel,  even  so  we  speak;  not  as  pleasing  men,  but  God. 
which  trieth  our  hearts." — 1  Thess.  ii.  4. 

SERMON  IX. 

Disastrous  Effects  of  little  Sins  in  Christians.  .     .  185 
'•'  Dead  flies  cause  the  ointment  of  the  apothecary  to  send 
forth  a  stinking  savour;  so  doth  a  little  folly  him  that  is  in 
reputation  for  wisdom  and  honour," — Eccles.  x.  1. 

SERMON  X. 

The  wise  Reckoning  of  Time. — A  New-Year's  Sermon,  205 
'•'  So  teach  us  to  number  our  days,  that  we  may  apply  our 
hearts  unto  wisdom." — Psalm  xc.  12. 

SERMON  XI. 

The  Perfection  of  the  Divine  Law, 224 

'•The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect." — Psalm  xix.  7. 


SERMON  XII. 

,E  Teacher,  .     . 

Who  teacheth  like  him?" — Joe  xxxvii.  22. 


God  the  incomparable  Teacher, 244 


CONTENTS.  •  XI 

SERMON  XIII. 

'j'he  Pro;si'euitv  ov  the  Wicked  insecure,       .     .     .     .261 
•'•Surely  Ihou  didst  set  them  in  slippery  places."' — Psalm 
Ixxiii.  18. 

SERMON  XIV. 

Things  in  the  Dealings  of  God  that  we   know  not 
NoWj  AND  the  Reasons  on  which  we  found  the  Hope 

that  we  shall  know  them  hereafter ;2'/fi 

••  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now:  but  thou  shalt  know 

hereafter." — John  xiii.  7. 


ADDRESSES. 


I. 

An  Address  delivered  at  the  Funeral  of  Mrs.  Sarah 
KeiMj  Wife  of  Mr.  John  Keim.  of  Philadelphia.     .  301 

II. 
Address  delivered  at  the  Anniversary  of  the  Ameri- 
""  CAN  Education  Society.     Boston,  May.  1845,      .     .317 

III. 
An  Address  delivered  at  the  Funeral  of  Mrs.  Cathe- 
rine B.  Patton.  Wife  of  the  Rev.  John  Patton,  and 
Daughter  of  James  Bruen,  Esq..  of  Philadelphia.  .  330 

IV. 

A  Permanent  Remedy  for  the  African  Slave  Trade.  347 


i^nro55C%. 


SERMONS. 


I. 


THE  METHOD  BY  WHICH   THE   CHRISTIAN'S  FAITH 
BECOMES  VICTORIOUS  OVER  THE  V^ORLD. 

"  Who  is  he  that  overcometh  tlie  world,  but  he  that  believeth  that 
Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God?" — 1  John  v.  5. 

The  easy  conquest  made  by  the  world  in  all  ages 
over  the  great  majority  of  its  inhabitants,  is  one  of 
the  most  unquestionable  facts  of  history.  Admira- 
tion of  its  heroes — the  pursuit  of  its  wealth — its 
honours — its  pleasures — its  power — submission  to 
its  maxims  and  customs,  and  yielding  to  its  dominant 
spirit,  have  formed  the  character,  shaped  the  course, 
employed  the  activities,  given  play  to  the  hopes  and 
fears,  and  fixed  the  destinies  of  the  great  majority  of 
mankind.  Occasionally  we  find  an  individual,  under 
those  better  impulses  that  sometimes  visit  man  de- 
spite the  ruin  of  his  moral  and  nobler  nature,  striving 
by  the  precepts  of  a  refined  philosophy  to  overcome 
the  world.  He  endeavours  to  look  at  it  with  the 
eye  of  a  weeping  philosopher  as  a  deceitful,  passing 
pageant — he  fortifies  himself  in  the  conviction,  that 
mind  and  moral  qualities  are  infinitely  superior  to 
the  most  dazzling  things  of  earth — attempts  to  dis- 
cipline his  pf  ssions  and  susceptibilities  till  they  shall 
be  proof  against  its  seductive  allurements — betakes 


14  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

himself  to  employments  and  pleasures  purely  in- 
tellectual— practises  an  outward  morality,  and  per- 
suades himself  that  he  has  gained  a  splendid  victory 
over  the  world  !  Yet  in  truth  he  is  still  only  an  "  up- 
per" and  higher  class  of  servant  to  the  world.  He 
does  not  wallow^  in  its  mire  trodden  under  foot  by 
the  base  things  of  earth.  But  the  point  of  his  ele- 
vation is  only  a  mound  of  som.ewhat  refined  day, 
not  a  "  heavenly  place  in  Christ  Jesus."  The  light 
that  surrounds  him  there  is  earthly  sunshine,  not 
the  pure  and  healing  beams  of  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness. The  morality  that  adorns  his  outward  man,  is 
this  world's  morality,  not  those  graces  of  the  Spirit 
that  robe  the  soul  in  the  livery  of  heaven.  No 
philosophy — no  device  of  mortals — no  power  of 
human  resolve  nor  gigantic  struggle  of  his  unaided 
powers,  can  ever  disenthral  man  from  the  environ- 
ments of  his  fallen  condition  and  give  him  the  vic- 
tory over  the  world.  Amidst  all  the  experiments 
ever  made  in  reference  to  this  achievement, and  all  the 
mighty  conflicts  of  man  with  the  world,  but  one  thing 
has  ever  enabled  him  to  overcome  it,  and  that  is,  the 
faith  of  the  gospel.  ^'  For  whosoever  is  born  of 
God  overcometh  the  world.  And  this  is  the  vic- 
tory that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith.^^ 
That  this  is  the  great,  the  only  means  of  this  sublime 
moral  victory,  is  manifest  from  the  language  of  the 
text:  "Who  is  he  that  overcometh  the  world,  but 
he  that  believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God?" 
This  question  is  obviously  put  as  unanswerable.  It 
is  equivalent  to  the  strongest  conceivable  affirmation, 
that  no  one  but  he  who  believeth  thaf*  Jesus  is  the 
Son  of  God,  can  possibly  overcome  the  world.     Note 


OVER  THE  WOKLD.  15 

here,  for  a  moment,  the  kind  of  failli  which  alone 
can  secure  so  splendid  a  triumph.  "He  that  he- 
lieveth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God^  Not  he 
that  has  a  correct,  speculative  faith  in  the  Bible  as  a 
revelation  from  God — not  he  that  has  a  sort  of  phi- 
losophic, poetic  belief  in  Christ  as  a  moral  hero  in 
history — as  a  great  and  good  man — a  prophet  or 
teacher  sent  from  God,  or  a  magnanimous  martyr, 
sealing  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions  of  truth, 
and  vindicating  the  loftiness  and  purity  of  his  mo- 
tives by  his  blood.  No  !  this  is  not  the  kind  of 
faith  that  crowns  man  a  victor  over  this  alluring, 
engrossing,  tempting,  triumphing  world.  "He  that 
believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God  '^ — the  man 
who  believes  '^^  with  the  Jiearf^^  in  the  whole 
character  of  the  Saviour  precisely  as  it  is  revealed, 
the  man  who  is  "  born  of  God,"  and  to  whose  soul 
the  Holy  Ghost,  having  taken  of  the  things  of  Christ, 
hath  shown  them,  and  wrought  there  a  simple,  vital 
belief,  that  "  Jesus,''  who  saves  his  people  from  their 
sins,  "zs  the  Son  of  God^^ — is  the  almighty,  sove- 
reign, all-sufficient,  atoning  Saviour,  for  him  per- 
sonally, as  a  lost  sinner — this  is  the  victorious  be- 
liever. It  is  this  view  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  as  a 
great /<r/c/,  an  overwhelming  reality^  blazes  in  upon 
his  soul  by  faith,  lighting  it  up  to  spiritual  discern- 
ment, and  awakening  in  it  a  new  and  mighty  life,  by 
which  he  makes  the  splendid  conquest  over  the 
world ! 

It  shall  be  my  object,  in  the  subsequent  remarks, 
to  inquire  how  this  belief  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of 
God,  operates  to  overcome  the  world? 

1.  It  does  so  by  bringing  to  the  viciv  of  the  soul 


16  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

a  totally  different  style  of  character  in  the  Lord 
Jesus,  fro77i  that  which  the  ivorld  admires  and 
imitates. 

The  heroic  character,  is  the  one  which  figures  in 
all  profane  history,  from  the  earliest  ages  to  the 
present  hour.  The  warrior,  in  the  exciting  and 
tragic  extremes  of  his  fortune^ — with  a  physical 
courage  that  scales  walls — mounts  battlements — 
storms  forts — sacks  cities — desolates  provinces — con- 
quers empires,  and  crushes  beneath  the  iron  tread  of 
his  prowess  millions  of  his  fellow  men;  this  is  the 
character,  however  dark,  depraved  and  desperate  in 
other  respects,  which  attracts  the  world's  admiration 
and  fires  its  irrepressible  emulation.  This  is  the 
master,  model  character  of  greatness  and  glory 
which  the  world  presents.  For,  if  the  statesman, 
orator,  poet,  philosopher,  or  scholar,  be  accounted 
great  by  the  v/orld,  he  must  have  something  of  this 
element  of  the  heroic  in  his  character.  He  must 
have  a  certain  hardihood  and  dauntless  daring,  which, 
with  worldly  motives  and  for  worldly  ends,  will  risk 
the  soul,  defy  destiny,  outrage  the  laws  of  heaven, 
and  be  willing  to  die,  provided  it  be  in  a  sufficiently 
magnificent  catastrophe!  Now  the  world, by  pre- 
senting this  as  its  great,  model  character,  and  ap- 
pealing thus  to  the  combined  passions  of  ambition, 
brute  courage,  the  love  of  fame  and  of  glory,  makes 
an  easy  conquest  of  the  hearts  of  men  in  the  very 
morning  of  life,  and  holds  them  ever  after  in  willing 
subjection.  But  to  the  man  who  believes  that  ^'Je- 
sus is  the  Son  of  God,"  a  totally  different  character 
is  presented  for , his  admiration,  love  and  imitation. 
The  clear  and  comprehensive  convictions  of  his  faith 


OVER  THE   WORLD,  17 

give  living  reality  to  the  true  character  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  present  it  in  its  proportions 
and  infinite  perfectness  as  a  ivhole,  radiant  with  a 
celestial  light.  It  is  a  character  diametrically  the 
opposite  of  the  world's  model  character  oi greatness 
and  glory.  Benevolence  wide  as  the  world,  weep- 
ing over  its  woes,  and  yearning  to  save  it  at  any 
sacrifice,  is  the  great  foundation  element  in  this 
character.  Another  striking  trait  is  a  profound 
submission  to  the  will  of  God,  even  amidst  scenes 
of  personal  suflering  the  most  tragic  the  world  has 
ever  witnessed.  What  tneekness,  too,  enters  into 
the  Saviour's  character,  that  which  the  world  pro- 
nounces to  be  "  the  virtue  only  of  cowards,"  but 
which  God  declares  "  blessed."  He  "  endured  the 
contradiction  of  sinners  against  himself."  "  When 
he  was  reviled,  he  reviled  not  again."  "  He  was  led 
as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before  her 
shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  opened  not  his  mouth." 
And  yet  with  all  this,  what  a  sublime  moral  courage 
was  his!  A  courage,  by  which,  for  the  space  of  forty 
days  in  the  solitude  of  the  wilderness,  he  battled 
with  the  gloomy  Prince  of  Darkness,  spurned  the 
splendid  bribe  to  his  virtue  of  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world  and  all  their  glory,  and  triumphed  in 
solitary  majesty  over  all  the  principalities  and  pow- 
ers of  hell !  A  courage  by  which  he  sustained  himself 
under  the  sorrows  of  Gethsemane,  the  shock  of  the 
world's  malice  at  Pilate's  bar  and  in  Herod's  court, 
calmly  offered  up  his  soul  to  God  a  sacrifice  for  sin, 
and  died  a  victor  amidst  the  mysterious  agonies,  the 
gloom  and  the  glory  of  Calvary !  This  is  the  character 
that  Heaven  presents  as  its  model  of  greatness  and 
2* 


18  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

moral  grandeur.  Faith  realizes,  sees,  feels  this 
character  in  its  infinite  loveliness  and  attractions. 
For  to  him  that  believeth  Christ  "is  precious" — 
"  the  fairest  amongst  ten  thousand,  one  altogether 
lovely."  Faith  loves,  admires,  adores  this  charac- 
ter, and  fires  the  soul  with  an  unconquerable  desire 
to  imitate  it,  to  be  conformed  to  it  and  fashioned 
after  this  celestial  pattern. 

Now  will  not  the  faith  that  gazes  on  the  pure  lus- 
tre of  such  a  character  blind  its  possessor  to  that 
false  glare  which  surrounds  the  world's  character  of 
greatness  and  glory?  Will  he  not  turn  away  in  dis- 
gust from  the  earthly  model?  And  while  the  pure 
and  perfect  character  of  Christ  is  glowing  before  the 
eye  of  his  faith  and  burning  in  upon  his  soul  its  own 
bright  lineaments,  will  he  not  triumph  over  the 
world,  nor  feel  nor  fear  its  allurements  to  his  ambi- 
tion? 

II.  A  second  way  in  which  the  belief  that  Jesus 
is  the  Son  of  God  operates  to  overcome  the  world,  is 
by  bringing  to  view  as  a  reality  the  perfect  ex- 
ample of  noble  self  denial  which  Christ  has  given. 
Self-denial  is  indispensable  to  a  conquest  over  the 
world.  As  this  is  an  extremely  difficult  duty,  espe- 
cially when  it  extends  to  "denying  ourselves  all 
ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,"  we  want  the  aid,  in 
its  performance,  of  something  more  than  bare  pre- 
cepts and  prohibitions.  We  want  a  living  excnnjjle — 
we  want  the  very  pattern  of  thething  done — and  done 
by  one  of  like  susceptibilities,  passions  and  powers, 
and  in  like  circumstances  with  ourselves. 

The  world,  of  course,  has  no  such  example  to  pre- 
sent.    Her  great  men  have  denied  themselves  many 


OVER  THE  WORLD.  19 

-worldly  gratifications,  but  it  has  been  only  that  they 
might  indulge  in  others  and  greater.  The  perfect 
example  of  noble  self-denial  which  the  Son  of  God 
has  2;iven  is  lost  on  the  unbelievins;  multitude.  To 
ihem  it  has  neither  "form  nor  comeliness,"  life  nor 
reality.  They  read  the  history  of  his  magnanimous 
sacrifices  and  severe  self-denials  just  as  they  peruse 
the  tale  of  some  hero  of  romance  in  the  fictitious 
trials,  struggles  and  battlings  of  his  imaginary  exis- 
tence. On  them  the  example  of  Christ's  self-denial 
exerts  no  influence,  and  they  cannot  avail  themselves 
of  its  ennobling  inspirations  to  enable  them  to  over- 
come the  world.  But  to  him  who  believeth  that 
Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  in  what  a  vivid  light  does 
the  Saviour's  example  of  self-denial  appear!  It  is 
the  example  of  the  Son  of  God.  It  is  the  acting  out, 
the  intelligible  embodiment  and  exemplification  of 
those  great  principles  by  which  He  overcame  the 
world.  Faith  seizes  on  it  as  a  living,  bright,  glow- 
ing reality — contemplates  it  from  its  commence- 
ment till  its  close  with  a  profound  admiration  of  its 
truthfulness,  sublimity,  perfection.  The  man  who 
believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  believes  too 
with  all  sincerity  and  fulness  of  conviction  that  for 
a  season  Christ  emptied  himself  of  "  that  glory  which 
he  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was,"  that 
"though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  our  sakes  he  became 
poor,"  that  though  "  he  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be 
equal  with  God,  yet  he  made  himself  of  no  reputation, 
took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  became  obe- 
dient unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross." 

Though  the  resources  of  the  world  were  his  by 
the  right  of  the  highest  and  most  absolute  proprie- 


20  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

torship,  yet  he  was  born  in  a  manger, — reared  in 
a  carpenter's  family, — wrought  with  his  own  hands, 
"being  subject  unto  his  parents,"  and  in  the  days  of 
his  public  ministry,  when  blessing  tlie  world  with 
the  richest  gifts  af  Divine  benelicence,  he  emphati- 
cally exclaimed,  "The  foxes  have  holes  and  the  birds 
of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not 
where  to  lay  his  head." — While  others  slept,  "he 
arose  when  it  was  yet  a  great  while  before  day,  and 
went  out  into  a  mountain  alone  to  pray." — When 
weary,  hungry,  and  thirsty,  as  he  sat  at  the  well  of 
Samaria,  he  was  deaf  to  the  clamours  of  his  own  bo- 
dily wants,  that  he  might  improve  the  occasion  to 
feed  immortal  souls  famishing  for  the  bread  of  life. 
But  it  is  the  closing  acts  of  his  self-denial  on  which 
faith  especially  dwells.  The  meek  and  unresisting 
bearing  of  his  spotless  mind  as  he  endured  all  the 
ignominious,  sad,  agonizing  preliminaries  to  his  cru- 
cifixion, when  by  a  simple  thought  he  could  have 
dashed  all  the  authors  of  these  indignities  and  suffer- 
ings into  remediless  destruction; — the  cheerfulness 
with  which  he  "endured  the  cross,"  willingly  making 
his  own  soul  the  great  sacrifice  offered  up  to  God 
through  the  Eternal  Spirit,  to  redeem  man  and  dis- 
enthral him  from  the  world — the  depths  of  myste- 
rious sorrows,  of  concealed,  unearthly  woes  into 
which  he  voluntarily  stepped  as  he  trod  the  wine- 
press alone,  as  he  performed  the  august,  awful  rite 
of  offering  up  himself  a  sacrifice  to  God.  0  who  can 
compute  the  all-controlling  power  of  so  sublime  an 
example  of  self-denial  on  him  who  really  believes 
that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God!  How  it  rouses  the 
energies  of  the  undying  soul — elevates  its  aims — 


OVER  THE  WORLD.  21 

fires  its  high  resolves,  its  infinite  aspirations,  and 
fluslies  it  with  the  hope  of  victory  !  When  the  l)e- 
liever  in  his  spiritual  conflict  keeps  this  example 
hriglit  before  the  eye  of  his  faith,  he  feels  a  new 
strengtli  in  the  struggle;  he  feels  that  conquest  is 
practicable,  and  rises  in  the  miglit  and  the  majesty  of 
the  ^^ inner  man,"  and  overcomes  the  world. 

III.  Another  way  in  which  faith  in  Christ  ope- 
rates to  overcome  the  world,  is  by  the  view  ivhich 
it  takes  of  the  exalted  pursuits  of  the  Saviou7\ 
The  pursuits  by  which  the  world  enslaves  and  holds 
its  votaries  are  quite  notorious.  Military  glory — 
the  pomp  and  show  of  wealth — the  bauble  of  fam.e 
— the  distinctions  of  a  mad  ambition,  and  the  tumul- 
tuous pleasures  of  prodigality  and  dissipation — these 
are  all  she  can  offer  her  subjects  for  the  employment 
of  their  immortal  activities.  And  these  are  sufficient 
to  overcome  worldly  minds — to  engross  and  exhaust 
their  powers,  unless  they  can  be  made  to  see  that 
there  are  loftier  and  nobler  pursuits,  and  to  feel  their 
divine  attractions.  For  the  inherent  energies  of 
mind,  under  the  impulses  of  its  powerful  passions, 
will  have  active  employment  of  some  kind.  Now 
earth  cannot  present  a  pursuit  higher  than  herself,  nor 
point  out  tlie  path  by  which  the  sternest  spirit  of 
mortal  is  to  overcome  the  world.  But  he  that  be- 
lieveth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  sees  in  Christ's 
pursuits  a  highway  above  the  world,  worthy  the 
powers,  the  dignity  and  the  ultimate  destination  of 
mind.  Faith  fully  accredits  that  simple  yet  sublime 
record  of  the  Saviour,  "  He  went  about  doing  good." 
It  sees  him  "travelling  in  the  greatness  of  his 
strength,"  in  that  glorious  sphere  of  God-like  bene- 


22  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

volence,  in  which  he  ministers  alike  to  the  mightiest 
and  the  most  minute  wants  of  man's  mortal  and  im- 
mortal nature.  Supreme  consecration  to  God,  and  a 
self-sacrificing  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  man, 
characterized  the  Saviour's  whole  career  on  earth. 
When  but  twelve  years  of  age,  he  was  "  about  his 
Father's  business."  It  was  obvious  that  he  always 
had  a  great  object  in  view.  Its  magnitude  and 
grandeur  may  be  judged  of  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
the  ivork  ivhich  the  Father  gave  him  to  do!  To 
manifest  the  glory  of  the  eternal  Father,  and  save 
this  sin-stricken,  sinking  world,  this  was  the  object 
of  his  exalted  pursuit  on  earth.  For,  at  the  very 
close  of  life,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  have  manifested  thy 
name  to  the  men  which  Thou  gavest  me  out  of  the 
world.  I  have  glorified  Thee  on  the  earth,  I  have 
finished  the  work  which  thou  gavest  me  to  do." 
This  work  taxed  his  activities  and  gave  play  to  all 
the  pure  and  benevolent  affections  of  his  nature. 
He  pursued  it  with  a  perseverance  steady  as  time — 
with  a  zeal  that  no  sorrows  could  quench — with  a 
courage  that  never  blenched  before  the  opposition  of 
earth  or  hell — with  a  self-denial  that  faltered  at  no 
sacrifice — with  a  divine  energy  that  flagged  not 
amidst  the  groans  and  anguish,  the  cries  and  tears, 
the  great  sweat  of  his  agony  in  the  garden,  nor  failed 
him  amidst  the  sublime  and  melancholy  glories  of 
the  cross,  where  he  triumphantly  exclaimed,  "//  is 
finished P^  Now  the  Christian's  faith  gives  a  reality 
to  this  pursuit  of  the  Son  of  God.  To  him  it  is  not 
as  the  fictitious  career  of  a  hero  of  romance.  Nay, 
his  faith  makes  him  feel  that  his  regenerated  powers 
fit  him  to  enter  on  the  same  noble  pursuit  of  glori- 


OVER  THE  WORLD.  23 

lying  God  and  blessing  a  lost  world — that  Christ 
reclaimed  them  from  the  ruins  of  the  fall,  that  these 
capacities  might  be  so  employed.  He  feels  himself 
invited  and  urged,  with  all  his  renovated  energies,  to 
rise  at  once  to  the  employment  and  the  dignity  of  a 
"  co-worker  with  Christ,"  in  illustrating  the  richest 
glories  of  the  Divine  nature  and  bestowing  the  bless- 
ing of  an  eternal  redemption  on  man.  Faith  makes 
this  all  a  bright  reality,  and  sees  this  course  lighted 
up  by  the  sunshine  of  that  active  benevolence  which 
creates  the  noon  of  heaven  itself,  and  the  soul  breaks 
away  from  all  the  alluring  pursuits  of  earth,  over- 
comes the  world  and  pants  and  burns  to  enter  and 
run  this  heavenly  race. 

IV.  Faith  in  Christ  operates  to  overcome  the  world 
hy  the  strong  and  captivating  views  which  it  takes 

of  THE     ELEVATED     ENJOYMENTS     of   the     SavioUV, 

Such  is  the  economy  of  mind,  that  it  must  have  re- 
sources of  enjoyment,  as  well  as  objects  of  pursuit.  It 
has  other  desires,  besides  those  of  mere  activity. 
The  love  of  happiness  is  the  master  passion  of  our 
nature.  The  craving  of  our  immortal  part  for  some 
satisfying  element  of  joy,  is  as  stern  and  uncompro- 
mising as  that  of  physical  hunger.  Now  when  the 
soul  can  discover  no  higher  enjoyments  than  those 
presented  by  the  world,  it  will  necessarily  grasp  at 
them  as  its  greatest  attainable  good.  This  is  the  rea- 
son why  the  blinded  multitude  of  the  ungodly  are 
overcome,  and  led  captive  by  the  polluted  pleasures 
of  the  world.  They  have  no  power  of  vision  to  pe- 
netrate the  spiritual.  They  "  receive  not  the  things 
of  the  Spirit,"  and  of  course  cannot  discern  spiritual 
joys.     Nor  does  the  world  present  an}''  example  of 


24  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

one  individual  of  its  votaries  living  on  higher  and 
holier   enjoyments,   than    its   perishable   pleasures. 
But  he  who  believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God, 
hasa  clear  and  captivating  view  of  the  elevated  enjoy- 
Tiients  of  the  Saviour.     For,  though  he  was  "a  man 
of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  griefs,"  clouded  and 
saddened  as  was  his  soul  by  the  weight  of  our   sins, 
and  the  work  of  a  world's  atonement,  yet  occasion- 
ally through  the  gloom,  breaks  the  light  of  a  trans- 
cendent spiritual  ]oy.     We  hear  of  him  rejoicing  in 
spirit,  and  giving  thanks  to  the  Father  for  the  glo- 
rious display  of  a  high    and  absokite  sovereignty. 
Again,  we  hear  oi^Hhe  joy  that  was  set  before  him," 
and  for  which  "he  endured  the  cross,  despising  the 
shame."     Now  faith  penetrates  into  these  secrets  of 
a  Saviour's  joys.     It  sees  that  his  human  soul  was 
made  happy,  by  the  same  spiritual  laws  that  confer 
happiness  on  the  regenerated  soul  of  the  believer. 
The  Saviour,  as  man,  found  his  supreme  happiness  in 
God  alone,  and  sought  it  from  no  inferior  source. 
The  range  of  his  spiritual  contemplations,  and  the 
play  of  his  benevolent  affections  which  furnished  his 
joys,  were  the  same  as  those  of  the  true  believer,  ex- 
cept in  so  far  as  they  related  to  his  atonement,  and 
were   unmarred   by  imperfection   or  sin.     He   held 
intimate  and  holy  communion  with  the  Eternal  mind, 
and   meditated    with  a   celestial  joy  on   the  infinite 
glories    of  its   attributes.     He   dwelt    on   the    deep 
counsels  of  Jehovah — surveyed  with  admiration  those 
vast  works  of  his  hand  through  the  universe,  that 
read  their  lessons  of  his  "eternal  power  and  God- 
head"— of  creating,  upholding, and  governing  wisdom 
and  goodness  to  all  intelligences — he  considered  the 


' 


OVER  THE  WORLD.  25 

ways  of  God  in  his  providence  over  the  world,  and 
marked,  with  an  unmingled  delight,  the  operation  of 
that  wide  and  wondrous  system  of  complicated  and 
apparently  conflicting  agents,  which  "work  together 
for  good  to  those  who  love  him,"  and  effect,  with 
infinite  certainty,  his  great  purposes  of  benevolence 
on  earth.  Faith  may  imagine  with  what  blissful 
emotions  the  Son  of  God  contemplated  the  stupen- 
dous glories  of  that  scheme  of  man's  redemption,  in 
which  his  human  and  divine  natures  took  so  illus- 
trious a  part,  and  the  issues  of  which  will  effect  more 
good  in  the  moral  government  of  God,  and  will  dif- 
fuse a  wider,  more  intense  and  enduring  happiness 
through  the  intelligent  universe,  than  perhaps  any 
other  event  in  his  eternal  reign  ! 

The  Saviour  exercised  the  spirit  of  cheerful,  im- 
plicit, universal  obedience,  and  profound  submission 
to  the  will  of  God — he  exercised  supreme  love  to 
God — devout  gratitude  and  holy  confidence,  and  had 
the  happiness  attending  these  exercises  in  the  assu- 
rance of  the  Divine  approbation  and  the  testimony 
of  a  good  conscience.  As  man,  Christ  had  that  im- 
mortal hope,  which  anchors  on  the  infinite  God  as 
its  object  now,  and  contemplates  the  possession  of 
a  '^far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory" 
in  his  immediate  presence  hereafter.  And  while  he 
sojourned  here  as  man,  he  knew  more  than  the  very 
best  of  his  disciples  do,  the  luxury  of  doing  good  to 
others. 

These  were  the  sources  from  which   he  derived 
his  holy  joys.     Now  he  who  bclieveth  that  Jesus  is 
the  Son  of  God,  has  a  spiriiual  discernment  of  this  exalt- 
ed happiness  of  the  Saviour.     His  faith  is  competent, 
3 


26  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

measurably,  to  understand  and  appreciate  this  high 
and  holy  enjoyment  of  his  Lord.  He  sees  too  that 
through  Christ  strengthening  him  it  is  aliainable  by 
fijm — that  Jesus  has  redeemed  him  in  order  that  he 
might  attain  it,  and  come  at  once  and  drink  from  this 
pure,  living  fountain,  and  thirst  no  more  for  earthly 
streams.  He  sees  that  these  lofty  joys  are  adapted 
to  the  wants,  and  in  accordance  with  the  renewed 
tastes  and  aspirations  of  his  immortal  nature.  His  re- 
lish for  worldly  pleasures  is  gone  ;  how  can  they  hold 
him  captive  longer  1.  He  breaks  for  ever  over  their 
enchanted  circle,  overcomes  and  rises  above  the 
world,  by  a  faith  on  the  Son  of  God,  which  opens 
his  whole  soul  to  that  confluence  of  light  and  joy, 
which  blessed  the  human  nature  of  the  Saviour! 

V.  Lastly.  Faith  in  the   Son   of  God  operates  to 
overcome  the  world  bi/  the  light  ivhich  the  cruci- 
fixion throws  on  the  true  character  of  the  world — 
the  worth  of  the  soul,  and  the  magnitude  of  its 
eternal  interests  and  destiny. 

There  is  but  one  place  where  the  true  character 
and  moral  position  of  this  world  can  be  ascertained  ; 
and  that  is,  at  the  cross  of  Christ.  When  viewed 
by  mortals  from  an}^  other  point,  it  is  seen  in  a  false 
light.  Come,  then,  let  us  go  by  faith  to  Calvary. 
We  desire  for  once  to  see  this  u-orld,  which  boasts 
its  conquests  over  immortal  millions,  in  some  de- 
gree as  God  sees  it.  What  a  spectacle  is  here  re- 
vealed !  Who  is  that  illustrious  victim  coming 
hither  meekly  bearing  his  cross?  Though  "his  vi- 
sage is  marred  more  than  any  man's" — though  he 
has  been  "scourged  till  you  might  tell  all  hisbones"— - 
though  his  countenance  is  pale  with  more  than  mor- 


OVER  THE  WORLD.  27 

tal  sorrow,  tlie  traces  of  majesty  are  there  slill — a 
mysterious  glory  in  disastrous  eclipse — a  commin- 
gling of  divine  calmness  with  human  agitation — of 
divine  strength  with  mortal  frailty — a  blending  of 
benign  compassion  with  a  sorrowful  indignation  ! 
Who  is  this]  "  The  Son  of  God/'  the  maker, upholder, 
and  benefactor  of  the  world  !  What  mean  the  infu- 
riated mob  as  the}?-  now  close  around  him,  and  nail 
him  to  the  fatal  wood,  and  suspend  him  on  the  ac- 
cursed tree?  What  mean  their  brutal  taunts — their 
mockery  of  his  death-thirst?  What  mean  his  own 
inscrutable  agonies  of  body  and  soul  ?  What  means 
the  deep  and  heart-rending  pathos  of  that  cry — '^My 
God  !  My  God  !  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?" 
What  mean  that  bowing  of  the  head  and  giving  up 
tlie  ghost,  under  a  mysterious  weight  of  woes,  such 
as  the  universe  has  witnessed,  and  will  witness  but 
once  ?  What  means  that  vast  sympathy  of  universal 
nature  with  this  illustrious  sufferer,  hanging  the  hea- 
vens in  sackcloth  and  shrouding  the  world  in  more 
than  sepulchral  gloom,  convulsing  the  earth,  rending 
the  rocks,  opening  the  graves,  and  vivifying  the  very 
ashes  of  the  long-forgotten  dead  ?  The  whole  signi- 
ficancy  of  these  tragic  wonders  which  stand  alone  in 
the  moral  drama  of  universal  being  is  this — the  Son 
of  God  is  here  making  an  atonement,  by  this  sacrifice 
of  himself,  for  the  sins  of  the  world  !  What  think 
you  of  the  world  now?  A  world  that  could  inflict 
such  a  death  on  its  incarnate,  immaculate  Maker  and 
Redeemer ;  a  world  that  required  such  an  expiation 
for  its  guilt — such  a  means  as  this  august  sacrifice  of 
Christ  himself,  for  its  recovery  and  reconciliation 
to  God  !     0  what  a  world  as  seen  in  the  light  of  the 


28  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

crucifixion  !  How  fallen,  accursed,  dark,  degraded, 
^^  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins,"  must  it  be.  '^Be- 
cause  we  thus  judge,  that  if  one  died  for  all,  then 
were  all  dead."  It  is  a  world  in  revolt,  and  at  en- 
mity with  its  God — a  mass  of  moral  death — ''the 
whole  world  lying  in  wickedness!" 

Now,  will  it  be  difficult  to  divorce  him  who  be- 
lieveth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  from  a  world 
like  this]  The  cross  of  Christ  was  the  secret  by 
which  Paul  was  crucified  to  the  world,  and  tiie  world 
to  him.  And  the  faith  that  plants  itself  at  that  cross 
now, and  takes  its  view  of  all  earthly  things  from  that 
point,  will  overcome  the  world  still,  and  win  for  the 
soul  the  noblest  conquest  to  be  made  this  side  of 
heaven. 

And  now  what  estimate  will  the  true  believer  put 
on  the  value  of  the  soul  as  beheld  in  the  liglit  of  the 
crucifixion  ?  These  strange  sorrows — these  infinite 
sufferings,  and  glories  of  the  great  atonement  are  the 
price  at  which  God  has  valued  the  soul  !  This  is  In- 
finite Wisdom's  appraisement  of  its  worth.  The  cross 
seals  the  valuation  as  just,  in  the  blood  of  its  divine 
sacrifice.  Faith  realizes,  feels,  trembles  under  this 
estimate  of  the  soul,  as  a  fact,  an  indubitable  truth, 
blazing  in  the  light  of  the  cross.  Can  the  believer 
then  suffer  this  guilty  world  to  enslave  his  soul  of 
such  value?  Oh  !  no!  He  now  appreciates  the  tre- 
mendous emphasis  and  point  of  Christ's  question: 
«'  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul,  or  what  shall  a  man 
give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ?"  Thus  he  that 
really  belie veth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  carr}-- 
ing  about  with  him  that  undying  conviction  of  the 


OVER  THE  WORLD.  29 

worth  of  the  soul  impressed  on  him  by  the  cross, 
cannot  for  a  moment  consent  to  barter  his  for  the 
whole  world;  and  thus  he  overcomes  the  world  with 
all  the  splendid  bribes  it  offers  him,  feeling  himself 
infinitely  rich  in  the  endowments  of  that  immortal 
spirit,  for  whose  redemption  Heaven  paid  such  a  price 
as  can  be  adequately  uttered  only  in  the  sublime 
eloquence  of  the  crucijixion! 

While  the  believer  still  lingers  at  the  cross,  what  an 
overwhelming  impression  does  he  there  receive  of 
the  magnitude  of  the  soul's  eternal  interests  and  des- 
tinies. There,  for  the  first,  he  realizes  the  truth,  and 
begins  iofeel  the  import  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.  For  faith  has  vitally  united  his  soul  to  Him 
who  is  the  life,  as  well  as  the  light  of  men.  What 
must  be  the  nature  of  that  soul  !  What  its  vast  pow- 
ers of  life  and  action — what  its  mighty  capacities  of 
progress  in  holiness,  and  perfection  in  bliss! — what 
grand  relations  must  it  hold  to  God  and  his  universe — 
what  stupendous  interests  must  it  have,  extending 
through  the  whole  empire  of  intelligences,  and  run- 
ning through  an  eternal  duration  to  make  it  worth 
the  infinite  sacrifice  that  redeemed  it,  and  worthy 
that  glorious  bond  of  union  that  binds  it  for  ever  to 
the  Son  of  God  ! 

Now  faith  realizes  all  this,  and  makes  the  soul  to 
stand  in  awe  at  its  own  august  immortal  interests  ! 
It  is  the  province  of  faith  to  look  from  Calvary  di- 
rectly into  eternity.  Thither  the  crucifixion  points 
the  soul  to  a  "purchased  possession,"  an  unfading 
and  incorruptible  inheritance  whose  glories  will  shine 
on  with  augmenting  splendour  after  the  fires  of  the 
final  conflagration  shall  have  burnt  up  this  world,  and 
3* 


30  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

blackened  its  brightest,  fairest  things  in  eternal  night! 
Yea,  to  him  who  belicveth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of 
God,  heaven  with  its  light  and  song,  its  triumphs  and 
immortal  transports  of  joy,  is  a  living /e//  realit3^ 
That  is  the  final  destiny  of  his  soul.  He  believes 
it  as  verily  as  he  believes  in  his  own  existence.  And, 
from  first  to  last,  in  all  his  conflicts  with  this  tempt- 
ing world,  he  feels  a  sweet,  aflfectionate,  holy  confi- 
dence in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  believes  that  He  will 
bring  his  soul  off  more  than  conqueror,  and  grant  it 
to  sit  down  with  Him  on  his  throne,  even  as  He  over- 
came and  has  set  down  on  his  Father's  throne.  Now, 
how  will  the  petty  interests  and  destinies  of  time — 
how  will  the  world  in  all  its  glory  appear  to  a  soul 
with  heaven  thus  open  to  its  faith,  and  overpowering 
the  vision  with  its  eternal  splendours?  That  soul 
has  overcome  the  world!  Faith  has  winged  it  with 
untiring  pinions,  and  it  is  already  on  its  upward  flight, 
with  earth  and  skies  beneath  its  feet,  mounting  still 
and  gazing  like  the  eagle  on  that  great  central  Sun, 
which  is  bringing  within  the  spliere  of  its  light  and 
attraction  all  the  redeemed  and  the  holy  of  the  uni- 
verse ! 

This  ^nh'^Qci,  in  the  fiy'st place,  may  furnish  a  test 
by  which  professing  Christians  can  try  their  faith. 
Of  what  kind  is  your  faith  ?  There  is  but  one  kind 
that  can  ever  convey  you  safely  to  heaven — that  is, 
the  faith  that  causes  you  actually  to  overcome  the 
world  !  Is  this  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
your  faith  ?  Has  your  belief  that  Jesus  is  the  Son 
of  God,  destroyed  your  admiration  of  the  world's 
character  of  greatness,  and  brought  you  to  love,  adore, 
and   imitate  the  perfect  character  of  the   Saviour? 


OVER  THE  WORLD.  31 

Has  it  crucified  you  to  the  world  and  all  its  sinful 
indulgences,  and  brought  you  close  in  the  footsteps 
of  Christ's  example  of  noble  self-denial  ?  Has  your 
faith  cast  out  from  you  the  demon  of  a  worldly  spi- 
rit— crushed  your  av;arice  and  ambition — diverted 
your  feet  from  earthly  pursuits,  and  directed  all  your 
spiritual  energies  into  the  same  exalted  sphere  of  ac- 
tion with  the  Son  of  God  ?  Has  your  faith  disgusted 
you  with  the  polluted  pleasures  of  the  world,  divorced 
you  from  them,  and  led  you  to  pant  after  and  partici- 
pate in  the  elevated  enjoyments  of  your  Lord  1  In 
a  word,  has  it  led  you  to  the  cross,  there  to  learn  the 
true  character  of  the  world,  the  worth  of  the  soul,  and 
the' grandeur  of  its  immortal  interests  and  destinies, 
so  that,  by  the  cross  you  are  actually  crucified  to  the 
world,  and  the  world  to  you?  Professing  Christians, 
these  are  questions  of  awful  import!  "Examine 
yourselves,  whether  ye  be  in  "this  kind  of  faith." 
Your  eternal  life  is  at  stake  here  !  For  "  he  that  be- 
lieveth  not,  shall  not  see  life."  There  is  but  one 
sort  of  faith  which  wins  heaven,  and  but  one  descrip- 
tion of  character,  who  is  now  spiritually  alive  and 
shall  live  for  evermore — "  he  that  believeth  that  Jesus 
is  the  Son  of  God,"  with  a  "faith  that  works  by  love, 
purifies  the  heart,  and  overcomes  the  world." 

We  learn  from  this  subject  in  the  second  place, 
that  the  Christianas  conflict  is  a  great  one.  He 
has  not  merely  to  contend  with  an  occasional  (^inia- 
cle  encountered  at  intervals  along  his  pilgrimage. 
It  is  not  some  isolated,  single-handed  form  of  evil 
with  which  he  has  to  do  battle.  It  is  the  whole 
world,  with  its  multiform,  ever  present  apjilianccs  of 
allurement  and    temptation.      The  whole  ^vcrld   in 


32  FAITH  VICTORIOUS 

the  gigantic  power  of  its  maxims  and  customs,  its 
pervading,  perverted,  almost  omnipotent  public  sen- 
timent, its  sympathies,  fellowships  and  confederacies, 
its  false  shame,  its  scoffs  and  sneers,  its  malignant 
calumnies  and  relentless  persecutions,  its  numbers 
and  dreaded  majorities — the  whole  world  thus 
armed  and  equipped  and  aided  by  the  inspirations, 
the  wiles  and  the  power  of  the  Prince  of  darkness,  is 
the  enemy  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Christian  with 
the  shield  of  failh,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  the 
helmet  of  hope,  in  lone  anlagonism  on  the  other!! 
0  !  is  not  this  a  great,  a  fearful  conflict !  Ought  not 
the  Christian  to  prepare  himself  to  endure  hardness 
as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ!  What  are  the 
battles  of  an  Alexander,  a  Caesar  or  a  Bonaparte, 
compared  with  this  tremendous  fight  of  faith !  They 
struggled  with  flesh  and  blood  only — the  Christian 
"with  principalities  and  powers,  the  rulers  of  the 
darkness  of  this  world,  with  sjnritual  wickedness 
in  high  places.^^  0  does  he  not  need  the  whole  ar- 
mour of  God,  and  incessant  supplies  of  a  divine  energy 
to  wield  it!  Yea,  blessed  be  God,  with  these  wea- 
pons of  his  warfare,  and  through  Christ  strengthen- 
ing him,  he  can  pull  down  the  strong-holds  of  sin, 
Satan  and  the  world,  and  win  for  his  soul  the  laurels 
of  a  victory  unfading  and  immortal! 

Finally.  Here  is  an  object  of  legitimate  ambition 
presented  to  the  ardent  aspirations  of  the  young 
man.  Youthful  hearer,  if  you  ever  look  thought- 
full)^  in  upon  your  own  mind,  and  take  cognizance 
of  what  is  passing  there,  you  must  have  noticed,  at 
times,  the  w'aking  up  of  strange  powers,  a  restless 
and  uncontrollable  desire  for  action— &  fresh,  un- 


OVER  THE  WORLD. 


wasted  might,  inherent,  and  forming  part  of  your 
young  nature  which  finds  no  suitable  object  in  the 
ordinary  pursuits  of  life,  and  which  tempts  you  to 
dare  great  things  and  to  desire  to  grapple  with  ob- 
jects of  magnitude  and  grandeur.  You  have  passions 
capable  of  tremendous  impulsive  force,  and  a  faculty 
of  high  hope  adapted  to  enlist  you  in  splendid  enter- 
prise. What  think  you,  young  man,  of  the  Chris- 
Han's  great  conflict  with  the  ivorld?  Does  it  not 
furnish  you  the  only  arena  and  object  really  adequate 
and  sufficiently  ample  for  "the  combat  and  career" 
of  your  immortal  energies?  Yes,  God  gave  you 
those  powers,  and  waked  them  into  activity  in  this 
spring-time  of  your  being,  for  the  very  purpose  of 
their  enlistment  in  this  conflict.  Is  not  this  a  great 
object?  The  conquest  of  the  world,  not  by  physical 
force,  but  by  that  loftier,  sterner  strength  that  will 
enable  you  to  govern  yourself,  to  rule  in  majesty 
over  your  own  spirit!  Is  not  the  interest  at  stake 
in  this  conflict  great?  Your  own  soul's  eternal  sal- 
vation, the  happiness  of  your  own  being  for  immor- 
tality !  Are  not  the  weapons  proffered  you  of  hea- 
venly origin  and  temper?  "  The  whole  armour  of 
God  !"  What  a  panoply  for  a  young  soul ! !  Is  not 
the  prize  of  victory  infinitely  alluring?  A  crown  of 
righteousness,  a  throne  of  glory,  a  "  kingdom  incor- 
ruptible, undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away,  eter- 
nal in  the  heavens."  Rise,  young  man,  rouse  your 
deathless  energies,  and  in  humble  dependence  on  God 
grapple  fearlessly  with  the  gigantic  foe,  and  he  who 
hath  called  you  to  be  "a  good  soldier"  will  crown 
you  an  immortal  victor! 


34  ADVANTAGES  OF 


SERMON   11. 


THE  NATURE  AND  ADVANTAGES  OF  DRAWING  NIGH 
TO  GOD. 

"Draw  nigh  to  God,  and  He  will  draw  nigh  to  you." — James  iv.  8. 

No  inspired  maxim  is  perhaps  more  universally 
applicable  than  this,  '^  The  hand  of  the  diligent 
maketh  rich."  And  it  is  specially  desirable  that 
Christians  should  speedily  learn  the  practical  lesson, 
that  while  negligent  of  duty  and  far  from  God  they 
have  no  right  to  expect  the  manifestations  of  his  fa- 
vour to  their  souls.  I  am  persuaded  that  professors' 
of  religion  often  cherish  mere  wishes  that  their  spi- 
ritual condition  were  better,  which  are  like  "  the  de- 
sire of  the  slothful,  that  killeth."  I  call  them  ?nere 
wishes,  because  they  are  not  the  holy  thirstings  after 
God,  the  living  God,  v.diich  the  psalmist  possessed, 
or  they  would  be  accompanied  by  a  different  course 
of  action.  It  is  very  possible  that  such  empty 
wishes  may  be  mistaken  for  a  fervent,  scriptural  de- 
sire after  the  presence  of  God.  It  is  probable  that 
some  may  have  wondered  why  they  have  pra3^ed; 
— earnestly  prayed,  for  light  and  comfort  and  sanc- 
tification,  and  yet  are  denied  these  blessings.  But 
if  they  have  regarded  any  iniquity  in  their  hearts,  or 
hav^e  failed  faithfully  to  employ  all  the  means  which 


DRAWING  NIGH  TO  GOD.  35 

God  has  connected  with  the  attainment  of  these 
blessingwS,  then  there  is  nothing  wonderful  in  their 
case.  It  is  in  exact  accordance  with  God's  settled 
plan  of  dealing,  even  with  his  own  children.  That 
plan  is  to  connect  \\\^  faithful  performance  ofDVTY 
with  all  the  privileges  and  enjoyments  of  the  Chris- 
tian life.  And  even  the  most  gratuitous  blessings 
which  God  in  his  sovereignty  bestows,  he  will  be 
"  inquired  of  by  the  house  of  Israel,  to  do  it  for 
them."  The  truth  of  these  remarks  is  fully  esta- 
blished by  the  words  of  our  text,  "Draw  nigh  to 
God,  and  he  will  draw  nigh  to  you." 

Let  us,  in  the  first  place,  attend  to  ivhat  is  i?n- 
plied  in  drawing  nigh  to  God — and  secondly. 
Notice  some  of  the  advantages  resulting  from  the 
fulfilment  of  the  jjromise,  "He  will  draw  nigh 

TO   YOU." 

I.  What  is  implied  in  drawing  nigh  to  God?  It 
is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  remark,  that  this  lan- 
guage is  figurative.  In  a  literal  sense  the  terms 
"  nigh  to  God,"  or  "  far  from  God,"  have  no  perti- 
nency. In  one  view  every  thing  is  alike  near  or 
alike  afar  from  him.  God  is  omnipresent;  through- 
out vast  immensity,  as  to  knowledge,  power  and  ab- 
solute control,  He  is  equally  present  in  all  places. 
Physically  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being  in 
him,  and  he  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us.  No  re- 
move that  we  could  make  in  mere  space  would  take 
us  an)^  farther  from  God.  If  we  "  ascend  into  hea- 
ven, he  is  there;  if  we  make  our  bed  in  hell,  behold 
he  is  there;  if  we  take  the  wings  of  the  morning, 
and  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,  even 
there  shall    his    hand  find    us,  and   his   right   hand 


36  ADVANTAGES  OF 

hold  us."  The  term,  draw  nigh  to  God,  then, 
must  refer  to  the,  spiritual  movements  of  the  soul, 
not  to  a  mere  change  of  local  position.  Were  the 
soul  of  an  unconverted  sinner  placed  at  the  foot  of 
the  throne  in  heaven,  it  would  still  be  true,  figura- 
tively and  spiritually,  that  it  would  be  far  from  God? 
Nearness  to  God  describes  the  stale,  not  the  loca- 
tion of  a  soul.  To  draw  nigh  to  God  pre-supposes 
an  acquaintance  with  him,  and  reconciliation  to  him 
through  the  blood  of  the  atonement  The  natural 
estrangement  of  the  heart  from  God  is  very  appro- 
priately expressed  by  the  metaphor  of  distance  be- 
tween objects.  Hence  Paul  says  to  the  Ephesians,  in 
reference  to  their  former  pagan  state,  "But  now  in 
Christ  Jesus  ye  who  sometimes  were  far  off,  are 
made  nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ."  In  order  to  put 
the  soul  in  a  condition  in  which  it  can  draw  nigh  to 
God,  the  native  enmity  of  the  heart  must  be  slain — 
repentance  must  place  a  broad  and  deep  separation 
between  that  soul  and  its  sins,  and  it  must  take  re- 
fuge by  faith  in  that  blood  of  sprinkling  under  whose 
covert  alone  the  miserable  sinner  can  approach  a 
holy  God  and  not  be  consumed.  Jesus  Christ  must 
be  recognised,  accepted,  believed  on  and  confided  in 
as  "Me  tvay^^  by  which  the  soul  is  to  draw  nigh  to 
God.  This  being  done,  the  state  of  mind  indicated 
by  the  metaphor  of  being  nigh  to  God  implies  a  de- 
void recognition  of  God  in  every  thing  by  which 
he  makes  himself  known.  When  the  soul  looks 
abroad  on  creation  and  considers  the  works  of  God's 
hands,  when  contemplating  the  evidence  thus  fur- 
nished of  divine  power,  wisdom  and  benevolence 
shining  not  less  in  the  gilding  of  the  insect's  wing 


DRAWING  NIGH  TO  GOD.  37 

than  in  the  eflfulgence  of  suns  and  stars,  and  then 
looks  through  nature  up  to  nature's  God  in  devout 
adoration,  love  and  gratitude,  that  soul  draws  nigh 
to  God.  It  feels  itself  in  liis  holy  presence  as 
manifested  by  the  wonders  of  the  creation!  And 
natural  beauty  has  its  brightest  charm  and  natural 
sublimity  its  most  overawing  majesty  from  the  soul's 
vivid  recognition  of  the  all-pervading  presence  of 
Jehovah.  Again. — When  the  soul  contemplates 
the  ways  of  God — the  manifestations  of  his  cha- 
racter made  in  his  dealings  with  our  world — his 
providence  over  the  race  and  his  particular  provi- 
dence over  the  individual,  when  in  view  of  all  the 
perfections  which  God  thus  acts  out  to  his  intelli- 
gent creatures  here  on  earth,  the  soul  sees  his  hand 
in  all — recognises  his  control  over  all  the  events  of 
its  own  personal  history,  and  acknowledges  him  the 
wise  and  good  and  glorious  GotI,  not  less  good  in 
the  dark  and  trying  scenes  of  adversity  than  in  un- 
clouded prosperity — when  "gladness  winj2,s  its  fa- 
voured hour'^  and  wafts  its  grateful  thoughts  to  hea- 
ven, and  when  penitence,  humiliation  and  submission 
lay  it  prostrate  under  God's  afflicting  hand,  feeling 
that  he  hath  done  it,  the  soul  draws  nigh  to  God! 
It  feels  itself  within  the  very  grasp  of  his  hand,  en- 
compassed by  a  present  God  in  these  his  merciful  or 
afflictive  dealings,  and  raises  its  song  of  gratitude  or 
makes  its  supplication  to  him  accordingly.  So  in 
respect  to  the  word  of  God, — when  the  soul  peruses 
those  sacred  pages  and  recognises  their  truths  as  in 
very  deed  the  word  of  God — when  with  profound 
reverence  it  pauses  over  this  communication  from 
Jehovah,  submitting  all  its  powers  to  the  authority 
4 


38  ADVANTAGES  OF 

of  his  oracles,  raising  its  cry  to  him  for  the  spirit 
of  obedience,  that  it  may  be  wholly  swayed  by  his 
commandments,  then  the  soul  draws  near  to  God.  In 
attendance  on  the  means  of  grace,  when  the  soul  rea- 
lizes the  sanctuary  to  be  the  house  of  God,  regards 
it  as  the  immediate  presence  chamber  of  the  King  of 
kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  enters  it  with  a  subdued 
and  solemn  frame  of  spirit,  and  in  its  songs  of  praise, 
its  supplications,  its  instructions,  and  the  dispensation 
of  its  ordinances,  recognises  God's  presence — God's 
authority,  God's  goodness  and  mercy,  and  through 
these  means  holds  communion  with  him,  then  the 
soul  may  be  said  to  draw  nigh  to  God.  This  is  the 
general  state  or  habit  of  mind  implied  by  the  meta- 
phorical phrase  in  the  text.  But  I  suppose,  that  the 
text  also  implies  a  direct  and  definite  exercise  of 
the  soul  in  the  work  of  careful^  imj^o^^tiinate,  2Jcr- 
severing  prayer.  We  may  regard  the  apostle  in 
the  text  as  virtually  saying  to  his  readers, ''  There  are 
reasons  why  you  should  make  a  formal  and  solemn 
advance  toward  God ;  why  you  should  not  be  satis- 
fied with  the  ordinary  outward  service  which  you 
render  to  him.  Let  those  sins  which  have  separated 
between  you  and  God  be  confessed  with  a  broken 
heart,  and  forsaken  without  a  reserve  for  ever.  Let 
your  formality  and  coldness  in  prayer  be  at  once 
abandoned.  Your  forgetfulness  of  God  in  his  works 
and  ways,  in  the  word  and  ordinances  of  his  grace, 
cease — let  your  hearts  be  set  in  order  and  *' frame 
your  doings  to  seek  the  Lord," — let  every  thing  that 
might  by  any  possibility  interpose  a  barrier  between 
your  souls  and  the  fullest  and  freest  communion 
with  your  God   be  carefully  taken  out  of  the  way, 


DRAWING   NIGH  TO  GOD.  39 

atul  thus  emptied  and  humbled  in  simplicity  and 
godly  sincerity,  draw  nigh  to  God  in  fervent,  per- 
severing prayer,  determined  never  to  cease  till  the 
blessing  be  obtained.  If  you  do  this,  and  do  it  un- 
der the  conviction  that  your  eternal  life  is  in  it,  God 
will  "draw  nigh  to  you."  And  now  what  will  be 
the  advantages  of  the  fulfilment  of  this  blessed  pro- 
mise in  the  text, — "God  xoill  draw  nigh  to  you?" 
This  was  the  second  thing  proposed  for  our  conside- 
ration. 

I.  If  God  draws  nigh  to  a  soul,  it  will  free  that 
soul  from  darkness  and  doubts  as  to  its  own 
stale,  and  give  it  also  delightful  views  of  the  Di- 
vine peifections.  Light  and  love  are  the  elements 
of  Jehovah's  being.  When  He  manifests  these  to  a 
creature,  he  is  said  to  draw  nigh  to  that  creature. 
When,  through  the  blood  of  the  great  Atonement,and 
in  answer  to  fervent  prayer,  God  manifests  himself  to 
a  soul,  light,  and  peace,  and  gracious  assurance  of  that 
soul's  spiritual  state  must  be  the  result.  It  is  when 
sin  has  provoked  him  to  withdraw  his  presence, 
that  darkness  and  doubts  come  over  the  soul.  It  is 
distance  from  the  "  Father  of  lights"  that  creates 
spiritual  gloom,  and  wraps  the  mind  in  a  midnight  of 
despondency.  When  the  great  "  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness" is  veiled,  there  is  a  strange  and  misty  indis- 
tinctness over  all  spiritual  objects.  The  soul  gropes 
at  noon-day,  not  knowing  whither  it  goeth.  Fears 
and  doubts  are  in  the  way;  and  the  feeble  and  flick- 
ering ray  of  hope  still  left  only  renders  the  darkness 
visible.  But  when  God  draws  nigh  to  the  soul,  "  'tis 
night  no  more" — the  darkness  rolls  away  at  his  pre- 
sence, as  shadows  flee  at  opening  day.  The  soul  has 
now  the  proper  medium  through  which  to  see  spirit- 


40  ADVANTAGES  OF 

ual  things — the  light  of  God's  presence.  In  this 
light  its  perceptions  are  clear  and  correct.  It  sees 
its  own  spiritual  condition.  It  rejoices  in  the  evi- 
dence which  a  '-God  oiigh  at  hand"  gives  it  of  its 
acceptance  with  liim  and  its  interest  in  the  eternal 
blessings  of  his  redemption.  This  gracious  sense  of 
God's  presence  chases  away  the  clouds  that  had  ga- 
thered over  it,  and  banishes  the  doubts  that  had  well 
nigh  driven  it  to  despondency.  All  within  it  is 
bright  and  calm  again,  because  God  has  returned  and 
drawn  nigh  to  it  in  the  light  and  love  of  his  glorious 
presence.  One  hour  beneath  the  beams  of  God's 
approving  countenance  will  do  more  to  settle  the 
great  question  of  the  soul's  safety  than  an  age  of  per- 
plexing inquiry  in  cold  and  gloomy  distance  from 
him.  And  while  this  is  one  blessed  result  of  God 
drawing  nigh  to  the  soul,  another,  equally  blessed,  is 
the  clear  and  satUfactory  views  which  the  soul 
thus  obtains  of  His  divine  perfections.  All  the 
erroneous  and  degrading  views  which  the  wicked 
entertain  respecting  God  are  easily  explained  by  the 
inspired  declaration,  '^  God  is  far  above  out  of  their 
sight."  The  rays  of  his  glory  seem  lost  in  the  im- 
mense moral  distance  between  him  and  the  wicked. 
And  while  the  Christian  permits  his  iniquities  like 
the  wind  to  carry  him  away  and  to  provoke  God  to 
retire  from  him,  he  has  no  vivid, transforming  views 
of  the  glorious  perfections  of  Jehovah.  True,  there 
is  still  to  the  eye  even  of  feeble  faith,  a  halo  of  un- 
created glor)^  there,  but  it  is  only  like  the  glimmering 
of  the  distant  fixed  star  that  an  atom  between  the  na- 
tural eye  and  that  object  will  utterly  obscure;  but 
when  God   draws  nigh  to  the  soul,  all  the  glories  of 


DRAWING   NIGH  TO  GOD.  41 

his  nature  seem  to  shine  around  it  in  a  new  and 
intense  splendour.  God  seems  to  pass  by  before  it, 
proclaiming,  "The  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and 
gracious,  long-suffering,  slow  to  anger,  and  abundant 
in  goodness  and  ti'uth."  How  glorious  to  the  soul 
appear  the  power,  wisdom,  goodness,  justice,  faithful- 
ness, trutli,  mercy  and  grace  of  a  nigh  present 
God!  This  is  the  place  to  study  the  attributes  of  the 
Divine  nature.  0  the  depths  of  his  counsels,  the 
wonders  of  his  condescension,  the  mysteries  of  his 
eternal  lov^e — the  yearnings  of  his  infinite  forbear- 
ance, as  read  by  the  soul  in  the  shinings  of  God's 
face !  When  he  comes  nigh  and  removes  the  veil, 
what  ineffable  beauty,  what  lineaments  divine  does 
his  face  wear !  It  is  then  the  soul  obtains  such  views 
of  the  infinite  perfections  of  Jehovah,  that  it  exclaims, 
"  I  have  heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear,  but 
now  mine  eye  seeth  Thee."  There  is  a  light  and  a 
warmth  in  every  attribute  of  a  present  God  that 
transfuse  themselves  through  the  very  soul!  One 
hour  near  to  God,  in  his  holy  presence,  will  impart 
more  enlarged,  exalted  and  rapturous  views  of  his 
character  than  could  be  acquired  by  a  lifetime  of  cool 
and  distant  speculation. 

IL  If  God  draws  nigh  to  a  soul,  tfiis  will  preserve 
it  from  the  power  of  temptation^  and  from  the  in- 
fluence of  all  those  cavses  that  cdmbinc  to  retard 
the  Christian's  progress  in  holiness. 

Temptation  consists  in  some  sinful  or  trifling  en- 
joyment assuming  to  the  soul  a  false  magnitude  or 
value,  so  that  it  will  induce  the  soul  to  seek  that  en- 
joyment in  violation  of  the  will  of  God,  and  in  dis- 
regard of  its  own  true  and  highest  interests.     Temp- 


42  ADVANTAGES  OF 

tations  derive  all  their  controlling  powder  from  the 
state  of  the  mind  at  the  time  they  are  present- 
ed. No  external  allurement  has  in  iiself  the  power 
of  seducing  the  immortal  mind.  It  is  the  tem- 
per, the  state  of  the  mind  at  the  time,  that  gives 
to  temptation  its  access  to  the  heart  and  its  control 
of  the  will.  Hence  the  petition,  "  Lead  us  not  into 
temptation."  Now  when  is  it  that  temporal  things, 
and  even  the  trifles  of  sin,  assume  an  undue  value  and 
importance  in  the  estimate  of  the  soul?  When  that 
soul  is  at  a  distance  from  God!  Just  in  proportion 
as  it  is  removed  afar  from  the  Infinite  Fountain  will 
the  petty  streams  of  earth  appear  more  broad  and 
deep.  Just  in  proportion  as  the  light  of  God's  face 
fades  in  the  distance,  will  a  false  colouring  be  thrown 
over  every  terrestrial  interest,  and  all  the  seducing 
objects  of  sense  and  sin  be  seen  through  a  distorted 
medium  and  in  a  fictitious  magnitude.  The  heart 
being  empty,  deserted  by  the  presence  of  God,  it  is, 
of  course,  read}'  to  welcome  inferior  objects  to  fill 
the  craving  void.  This  is  the  grand  secret  of  temp- 
tation's power!  But  when  God  draws  nigh  to  the 
soul,  over-awing  it  with  a  sweetly  oppressive  sense 
of  His  majesty — filling  it  with  the  light  of  his  glori- 
ous presence — firing  it  with  the  glow  of  his  redeem- 
ing love — arraying  before  its  purified  and  piercing 
vision  eternal  realities  in  something  of  their  native 
magnitude  and  grandeur — dilating  it  with  infinite  as- 
pirations, and  anchoring  it  to  his  throne  by  the  hope 
of  glory,  what  can  temptation  do  with  the  soul  then? 
All  the  allurements  of  earth  and  hell  will  lose  their 
charm,  and  be  robbed  of  their  power  to  insnare. 
Temptation  cannot  even  approach  the  soul.      The 


DRAWING  NIGH  TO  GOD.  43 

holy  fires  of  God's  presence  will  repel  the  foul  spi- 
rit by  their  glitter  as  the  blaze  kindled  by  night  in 
the  wilderness  keeps  in  abeyance  the  beasts  of  prey. 
The  presence  of  God  is  the  soul's  impregnable  bul- 
wark against  all  the  assaults  of  sin  and  hell.  It  is 
not  an  exertion  of  God's  joAy^/r^/ omnipotence  that 
keeps  the  soul  from  temptation — it  is  the  moral 
power  of  his  presence,  pervading  the  soul  with  ex- 
alted views  of  his  perfections — filling  its  capacities 
of  thought  and  feeling  with  eternal  realities,  and  mi- 
nistering to  it  the  transcendent  joys  of  salvation. 
Equally  powerful  is  the  presence  of  God  in  neutral- 
izing the  influence  of  all  those  causes  that  combine 
to  hinder  the  Christian's  progress  in  holiness.  These 
causes  are,  mainly,  a  love  of  the  world,  spiritual 
sloth,  and  the  obstacles  ivhich  the  influence  of  the 
ungodly  throw  in  our  way.  Now  the  power  of 
all  these  hinderances  to  holiness  is  precisely  propor- 
tioned to  the  distance  of  the  soul  from  God.  When 
He  is  concealed  from  the  eye  of  the  soul,  the  world, 
of  course,  has  a  fictitious  importance,  and  puts  on  new 
and  unreal  charms.  When  the  stimulus  of  the  light 
and  love  of  God's  presence  is  removed  from  the  soul, 
its  spiritual  powers  necessarily  become  inactive  and 
torpid.  And  when  the  holy  fear  of  God,  a  present 
God,  is  taken  away  from  before  the  soul,  then 
the  influence  of  the  persuasions  and  enticements  of 
sinners,  and  of  their  threats,  and  scoffs,  and  cruel 
mockings,  is  much  more  keenly  felt.  These  then 
prove  powerful  clogs  to  the  Christian's  advancement 
in  the  divine  life.  But  when  God  draws  nigh  to  the 
soul,  the  brightness  of  his  presence  completely 
eclipses  the  false  glare  of  the  world,  and  its  fashion 


44  ADVANTAGES  OF 

is  seen  to  be  passing  away,  and  its  mightiest  interests 
to  be  but  the  trifles  of  a  moment  compared  with  the 
objects  brought  to  view  in  the  light  of  God's  face. 
By  his  visit  the  drowsy  powers  of  the  soul  are  star- 
tled from  their  slumbers  as  the  traveller  that  has  over- 
slept himself,  by  the  glare  of  the  risen  sunbeams  on 
his  morning  pillow.  There  is  an  energy  in  the  pre- 
sence of  God  that  wakes  up  every  power  of  the  soul 
to  intense  activity.  And  while  God  is  nigh,  how 
can  the  influence  of  the  ungodly  reach  that  soul  and 
obstruct  its  onward  course?  Their  persuasions,  their 
allurements,  their  threats,  their  taunts  and  jeers  are 
unfelt  and  unfeared  by  the  Christian,  while  he  tri- 
umphantly exclaims,  "  Because  God  is  at  my  right 
hand,  I  shall  not  be  greatly  moved."  <'  Greater  is 
he  that  is  with  me  than  all  they  that  are  against  me." 
What  a  blessed  result  of  God's  drawing  nigh  to  the 
soul!  Temptation  is  disarmed  and  despoiled  of  its 
power,  and  all  the  obstacles  to  advancement  in  holi- 
ness removed.  The  highway  to  heaven  cleared  and 
lighted  up  with  the  splendours  of  God's  presence !  ! 

III.  Another  advantage  of  God's  drawing  nigh  to 
the  soul  is  that  it  will 2J7'omote  the  souVs  sanctifi- 
cation  directly,  by  giving  to  all  the  means  of  grace 
their  peculiar  and  appropriate  power. 

God's  presence  has  not  only  a  negative  influence 
in  removing  obstacles  to  the  soul's  advancement  in 
the  divine  life,  but  a  direct  and  positive  influence  in 
promoting  its  sanctification.  The  means  of  grace — 
all  the  elements  of  spiritual  vitality  and  growth — 
are  only  powerless  when  severed  from  the  vivifying 
influence  of  Jehovah's  presence.  It  is  his  presence 
that  constitutes  the  vital  warmth,  the  all-penetrating. 


DRAWING  NIGH  TO  GOD.  45 

all-pervading  ener2;y  of  divine  ordinances.  Blot  out 
yonder  sun  from  the  heavens,  and  sweep  inoon  and 
stars  from  the  canopy,  and  suppose  you  had  the  alter- 
nations of  the  seasons,  the  early  and  latter  rains,  the 
dews  of  summer  and  the  natural  heat  in  the  earth, 
yet  vegetable  and  animal  life  would  languish  and  be- 
come extinct.  Thus,  let  God  cover  himself  "with  a 
cloud,  so  that  our  prayer  cannot  pass  through,"  and 
all  the  means  of  grace  will  fail  to  sustain  spiritual 
life.  But  let  God  draw  nigh  to  the  soul — let  that 
soul  read  his  word  in  the  light  of  his  presence— let 
it  pray  beneath  his  unveiled  face — let  it  go  to  the 
sanctuary,  and  there  behold  the  power  and  the  glory 
of  vi  present  God — let  it  pour  its  praises  into  his  ear 

— unbosom  its  wants  directly  at  his  feet  in  prayer 

hear  the  gospel  under  his  piercing  eye,  commune  at 
the  Lord's  table  with  a  verily  present  God,  enjoy 
all  the  means  of  grace  in  him,  or  rather  enjoy  his 
immediate,  unclouded  presence  in  all  the  means  of 
grace,  and  who  can  prescribe  limits  to  that  soul's  ad- 
vancement in  the  divine  life?  All  the  ordinances  of 
God,  then,  have  their  legitimate  influence.  There 
is  no  element,  no  energy,  wanting; — the  light,  and 
vital  warmth, are  there — the  moral  sunshine,and  dew, 
and  rain,  are  blended  in  their  true  proportions,  and 
every  plant  that  ^'the  Father  hath  planted,"  grows 
and  expands,  buds  and  blooms  in  spiritual  beauty, 
and  ripens  those  fruits  unto  holiness,  whose  end  is 
everlastini:;  life.  God's  presence  can  give  to  the  most 
ordinary  ministrations  a  surpassing  power  to  promote 
the  Christian's  growth  in  grace.  His  presence  is  the 
great  and  resistless  attraction   to  the  soul  along  the 


46  ADVANTAGES  OF 

way  of  life.  It  follows  in  the  resplendent  wake  of 
his  gloiy,  ^'  hard  after  God/'  gazing  on  his  face  till 
it  is  *•  changed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to 
glory,  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord."  And  I  might 
add  here  in  passing,  as  an  additional  advantage  of 
God's  drawing  nigh  to  a  people,  that  it  gives  the 
means  of  grace  a  peculiar  power  over  the  minds  of 
sinners.  God's  ordinances  are  powerless  to  the  im- 
penitent, only  while  his  presence  is  withheld  from 
the  church.  Sinners  can  only  remain  at  ease  and 
unmoved,  while  the  vital  energy  of  the  Divine  pre- 
sence leaves  the  means  of  grace  as  hollow  forms — 
as  the  body  without  the  spirit, — dead.  But  when  a 
church  begins  really  to  feel  that  God  is  nigh  to  every 
one  of  them — when  they  are  roused  to  activity  by 
his  presence,  and  begin  to  "  endure  as  seeing  him 
who  is  invisible" — when,  under  the  visions  of  his 
face,  they  begin  to  reflect  the  light  they  thus  receive, 
and  display  all  the  appropriate  evidences  of  their 
own  spiritual  life  and  growth,  then  the  means  of 
grace  begin  to  reach  the  conscience  and  the  heart 
of  the  impenitent,  with  a  new  and  unwonted  power. 
Blind,  reckless,  and  hardened  as  sinners  are,  they  are 
not  wholly  insensible  to  God's  presence  in  the  church. 
Amidst  all  their  stupidity,  sinners  feel,  at  such  a  time, 
that  there  is  something  in  the  songs  of  praise — some- 
thing in  the  Christian's  prayers — something  in  the 
Sabbath's  ministrations  from  the  pulpit  different  from 
what  they  are  at  other  seasons.  There  is  an  unde- 
finable  influence  on  them  which  they  do  not  feel 
when  God  is  afar  off.  Some  rays  of  his  glory  pene- 
trate their  darkness,and  pain  the  diseased  eye  of  their 
souls!     The  tokens  of  his  presence  make  them  afraid. 


DRAWING  NIGH  TO  GOD.  47 

Conviction  fastens  on  them,  and  they  are  led  by  the 
Spirit  to  penitence  and  submission  to  God.  The 
gospel  then  will  become  the  power  of  God  unto  sal- 
vation to  the  ungodly,  just  as  soon  as  the  glorious  Je- 
hovah draws  nigh  to  his  people  who  have  drawn 
nigh  to  him! 

IV.  The  last  advantage  of  God's  drawing  nigh  to  us 
which  I  shall  now  mention,  is,  that  it  will  prepare 
us  for  the  afflictions  and  trials  of  life,  and  for  the 
hour  of  death.  Sorrows,  afflictions,  trials,  bereave- 
ments, and  death  itself  make  a  fixed  and  permanent 
part  of  the  economy  under  which  we  are  at  present 
placed.  Tile  hope  of  exemjition  from  these,  the  best 
man  on  earth  cannot  rationally  entertain.  True,  God 
in  mercy  has  connected  with  our  present  sorrows 
and  afflictions,  the  mitigating  influence  of  the  lapse 
of  time  and  the  balm  of  friendship  and  sympathy. 
The  same  economy  that  dooms  us  to  those  trials 
provides  for  them  some  temporary  alleviations.  But, 
after  all,  how  many  of  earth's  sorrows  have  no  ade- 
quate solace?  —  how  many  of  its  trials  have  no 
counterbalancing  support?  How  many  of  our  pangs 
lie  beyond  the  reach  of  the  kindest  assiduities  of 
earthly  affection,  and  are  immitigable  by  the  most 
potent  balm  of  human  sympathy?  How  often  is 
there  a  state  of  mind  from  which,  if  you  exclude  the 
light  and  comfort  of  God's  presence,  the  soul  will 
feel  a  solitude  more  dreadful  than  the  pilgrim  aban- 
doned to  die  alone  on  the  sands  of  the  desert.  The 
most  gloomy  and  fearful  conception  that  we  ever 
form  of  human  suffering  is  to  invest  it  with  complete 
loneliness.  I  recollect  the  case  of  an  intelligent 
lady,  of  acute  sensibility,  and  capable  of  appreciating 


48  ADVANTAGES  OF 

sympathy  and  affection  from  others,  who  was  left  at 
her  home  in  the  city  of  New  York,  during  the  pre- 
valence of  the  Asiatic  cholera,  for  a  single  day  only, 
with  none  but  a  hired  girl.  That  day  the  fatal  plague 
seized  the  lady,  and  "the  hireling  fled  because  she 
was  a  hireling,"  and  left  the  lady  entirely  alone.  In 
the  profound  silence  and  solitude  of  that  house  she 
struggled  alone  with  the  gigantic  destroyer! — no 
footsteps  greeted  her  ear — no  hand  wiped  the  cold 
sweat  from  her  brow — no  eye  glanced  even  a  hasty 
look  of  pity — nor  did  any  but  her  God  know  when 
her  spirit  forsook  its  clay  !  I  have  never  forgotten 
the  impression  which  that  tragic  incident  made  on 
my  mind.  And  yet,  this  but  faintly  indicates  the 
condition  of  a  soul  passing  through  the  complicated 
trials  of  life,  and  at  last  through  the  valley  and  sha- 
dow of  death  without  the  presence  of  its  God  !  Give 
a  man  all  the  firmness  that  philosophy  can  inspire, 
all  the  friendship  and  sympathy  that  earth  can  be- 
stow, I  care  not,  if  God  desert  him  he  is  not  pre- 
pared to  meet  the  inevitable  afflictions  of  life,  nor  the 
troubles  and  terrors  of  the  dying  hour.  But  let 
God  draw  nigh — let  his  presence  be  felt,  then  when 
sorrow  shades  the  soul  its  light  is  not  extinguished; 
the  soul  then  understands  the  consistency,  the  divine 
philosophy  of  that  declaration,  "  In  the  world  ye  shall 
have  tribulation,  but  in  me  ye  shall  have  peace." 
Let  affliction  press  sorely  upon  the  soul,  then  a  pre- 
sent God  places  beneath  and  round  about  it  the  ever- 
lasting arms,  and  makes  all  its  bed  in  its  sickness. 
Let  trials  of  any  or  of  every  kind  thicken  on  the  way, 
and  be  piled  mountain  high — the  mountain  shall 
flow  down  before  a  present  God,  and  become  a  plain 


DRAWING  NIGH  TO  GOD.  49 

over  which  the  soul  shall  pass  at  once  to  Him  as  its 
refuge  from  the  angry  storm.  Let  bereavement 
present  all  its  blighted  hopes  and  bleeding  hearts,  a 
present  God  replaces  tiiose  perished  hopes  by  one 
which  contemplates  afar  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory,  as  wrought  out  for  the  soul  by  these 
light  and  momentary  afflictions,  and  his  own  kind 
hand  stanches  the  blood,  applies  a  celestial  balm, 
and  binds  up  the  broken  heart.  Let  the  hour  of 
death  approach  with  its  last  look  on  this  gladsome, 
sunny  world — its  long  farewell  to  all  terrestrial  scenes 
— its  disruption  of  the  fondest  ties  of  kindred  and 
affection — its  sad  and  final  parting  with  the  dear  ones 
that  have  blended  with  our  very  being  here — its  fears 
and  unknown  pangs — its  drowning  depressions  and 
its  undefinable  solitude  and  darkness,  and  what  says 
the  soul  to  whom  God  is  nigh — "I  will  fear  no  evil, 
for  THOU  art  with  me:  thy  rod  and  thy  staff^  they 
comfort  me!  !"  The  presence  of  God  can  do  for  us 
all  this,  more  than  all  this,  amidst  the  trials  and  tur- 
moils of  life,  the  recoilings  and  dismay  of  death. 
There  is  a  soul-sustaining  power  in  the  presence  of 
God,  for  which  there  is  no  substitute  in  the  universe. 
That  immortal  courage  which  has  conquered  all  the 
gigantic  ills  of  life  in  the  history  of  the  world,  has 
been  inspired  by  God's  presence.  The  faith  that 
has  "  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness, 
quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  stopped  the  mouths  of 
lions,  out  of  weakness  became  strong,  waxing  valiant 
in  fight  and  putting  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens,'' 
has  been  a  faith  nurtured  in  the  presence  of  God. 
The  eternal  hope  that  has  shed  its  unclouded  light 
on  the  gloom  of  the  apostacy — that  has  triumphed 


50  ADVANTAGES  OF 

over  the  darkness  of  death  and  lit  the  way  to  an 
endless  heaven^  has  gathered  all  its  brightness  from 
the  beams  of  Jehovah's  face.  ^  Let  God  be  nigh,  and 
the  omnipotence  of  his  felt  presence  will  achieve  for 
the  soul  over  sin,  death  and  hell,  with  all  their  allies, 
a  victory  whose  song  and  shouts  will  rise  on  the  air 
of  eternity. 

Christians  may  learn  from  this  subject,  the  best 
method  of  promoting  a  true  revival  of  religion  in 
the  church.  The  means  or  measures  for  promoting 
revivals  have  been  a  fruitful  topic  of  discussion,  and 
even  of  angry  controversy,  in  past  years.  Confi- 
dence in  God  and  a  profound  rev^erence  for  his  word 
might  have  saved  the  church  much  vain  disputings, 
and  prevented  the  introduction  of  measures  of  doubt- 
ful propriety  or  of  positive  injury.  All  means  or 
measures  that  do  not  recognise  and  depend  on  a 
PRESENT  God  as  the  grand,  central,  effective  power, 
on  which  the  entire  efficiency  and  success  of  every 
other  instrumentality  is  suspended,  must  prove  in- 
jurious. Such  measures  can  only  beget  a  false  con- 
fidence, and  their  legitimate  tendency  is  to  produce 
spurious  conversions.  If  the  presence  of  God  with 
his  people  will  not  revive  their  graces,  and  awaken 
and  conv^ert  sinners,  it  is  certain,  that  apart  from 
this,  even  divinely  appointed  means  will  not  do  it. 
The  method,  then,  of  promoting  pure  and  genuine 
revivals  of  religion  is  very  simple.  The  text  im- 
bodiesthe  whole  philosophy  of  the  case  in  its  short  but 
significant  announcement — "  Draw  nigh  to  God, 
and  he,  will  draw  nigh  to  you!''''  Christian  bre- 
thren, if  you  substitute  any  number  of  ceremonies,  or 
the  strictest  attendance  on  outward  ordinances,  in  the 


DRAWING  NIGH  TO  GOD.  51 

place  of  that  deep,  earnest,  spiritual  exercise  of  the 
soul,  indicated  by  the  terms — "Draw  nigh  to  God/' 
you  may  succeed  in  producing  excitement,  but  you 
will  not  be  favoured  with  the  beams  and  blessed 
visions  of  God's  face  present  to  your  own  souls,  nor 
shining  into  the  darkness  of  the  sinner's  heart,  and 
startling  him  with  a  view  of  his  ruined  and  guilty 
condition.  Until  you  comply  with  the  requirement 
of  duty  in  the  text,  it  is  both  vain  and  wicked  to  ex- 
pect that  God  will  draw  nigh  to  you  and  grant  you 
a  season  of  refreshing  from  his  presence !  Whenever 
you  think  you  desire  and  long  for  a  revival  of  reli- 
gion in  the  church,  ask  yourselves  whether  you  have 
begun  in  solemn  earnest  to  address  yourselves  di- 
rectly to  the  work  of  drawing  nigh  to  God,  your 
confidence  being  placed  on  his  returning  presence 
and  unseen  energies  for  success,  rather  than  on  any 
array  of  means  and  measures,  however  imposing. 
Are  you  willing,  at  the  expense  of  any  sacrifice  or 
self-denial,  to  remove  out  of  the  way  every  thing 
that  might  by  possibility  stand  between  you  and 
your  God?  Are  you  willing  to  humble  yourselves 
under  his  mighty  hand  and  submit  yourselves  unto 
God?  Are  you  w^illing,  by  deep  repentance — by  the 
most  diligent  self-examination — by  the  most  careful 
perusal  of  the  Bible — the  most  devout  meditation — 
the  most  importunate,  persevering  prayer,  to  draw 
nigh  to  God  without  any  farther  delay,  reserve  or 
looking  back?  Are  you  willing,  eager,  determined 
to  commence  this  work  im,r)iediately,  with  the  hope 
that  God  will  soon  draw  nigh  to  you  as  a  church, 
and  give  a  divine  efficiency  to  the  means  of  grace, 
both  in  your  own  edification  and  in  the  awakening 


52  ADVANTAGES  OF  DRAWING  NIGH  TO  GOD. 

and  conversion  of  sinners'?  Christian  brethren,  if 
you  have  carefully  counted  the  cost,  and  deliberately 
in  the  fear  of  God,  and  in  humble  reliance  on  his 
grace  and  strength,  made  up  your  minds  irreversibly 
now  to  draw  nigh  to  Him,  then  you  may  lift  up  your 
eyes  and  behold  the  dawn  of  a  day  of  spiritual  joy  to 
you,  however  long  and  dark  may  have  been  your 
night  of  weeping.  There  is  light  breaking  on  your 
horizon.  "  It  is  the  Spirit's  rising  beam," — the  first 
rays  of  the  returning  presence  of  God,  and  you  may 
exultingly  exclaim — "Hail, holy  light,"  and  devoutly 
pray — "  Cause  thy  face  to  shine  upon  us,  and  we 
shall  be  saved." 


DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN  THE  CONVERSION  OF  A  SOUL.      53 


SERMON    III. 


THE  DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN  THE  CONVERSION  OF  A 
SOUL. 

"  But  I  follow  after,  if  that  1  may  apprehend  that  for  which,  also,  I  ani 
apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus." — Philip,  iii.  12. 

Few  passages  of  the  New  Testament  convey  less 
meaning  to  an  ordinary  reader,  than  the  one  now  se- 
lected and  announced  as  the  text.  But  this  results 
rather  from  the  want  of  patient  thought,  and  of  con- 
templating the  passage  in  its  connexions,  than  from 
any  intrinsic  obscurity  in  the  text  itself.  True,  the 
phraseology  is  somewhat  peculiar,  the  words  "ap- 
prehend," and  "  apprehended,"  being  used  in  a  dif- 
ferent sense  in  the  same  sentence;  yet  the  meaning 
of  the  apostle  in  this  remarkable  declaration,  is  neither 
obscure  nor  doubtful.  He  states  in  the  preceding 
verses,  that  he  had  renounced  every  thing  for  Christ. 
He  had  foregone  the  preferments  and  honours,  the  gain 
and  the  glory  whicli  would  have  been  the  rewards 
of  his  continued  attachment  to  the  Jewish  religion. 
And  his  own  testimony  respecting  these  things  once 
so  alluring  to  his  youthful  ambition,  is  very  remark- 
able. "Yea,  doubtless,  and  I  count  all  things  but 
loss  for  the  excellency  of  tlie  knowledge  of  Christ 


54  THE  DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN 

Jesus,  my  Lord,  for  whom  I  have  suffered  the  loss  of 
all  things,  and  do  count  them  but  dung,  that  I  may 
win  Christ  and  be  found  in  him:  not  having  my  own 
righteousness,  which  is  of  the  law  ;  but  that  which 
is  through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness 
which  is  of  God  by  faith;  that  I  may  know  him  and 
the  power  of  his  resurrection  and  the  fellowship  of 
his  sufferings,  being  made  conformable  unto  his  death, 
if  by  any  means  I  might  attain  unto  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead  !'^ 

From  these  declarations,  it  appears  that  Paul  had 
given  up  the  great  end,  yea,  had  renounced  every 
thing  for  w^hich  he  once  lived,  and  had  now  a  new 
object  before  him,  to  which  he  cheerfully  sacrificed 
all  others.  To  know  Christ  and  the  power  of  his  re- 
surrection and  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,  being 
made  conformable  unto  his  death,  if  by  any  means 
he  might  attain  unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead — 
if  by  any  means  he  might  fulfil  the  duties,  and  se- 
cure the  destinies  of  a  redeemed  soul.  This  object, 
he  informs  us,  he  has  not  already  attained  perfectly. 
Then,  in  the  words  of  the  text,  he  discloses  to  us  the 
purpose  and  efforts  of  his  life,  in  reference  to  this 
great  end  before  him.  "  But  I  follow  after,  if  that  I 
may  apprehend  that  for  which,  also,  I  am  apprehend- 
ed of  Christ  Jesus."  The  plain  meaning  of  the  apos- 
tle's language  here  seems  to  be  this,  that  it  was  his 
constant  aim  to  know  and  attain  the  great  ends  for 
which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  converted  him. 

That  I  may  apprehend  that  for  which,  also,  I  am 
apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus;  that  is, that  I  may  under- 
stand— lay  hold  of — attain  those  objects  which  the 
Lord  Jesus  had  in  view  when  he  apprehended  me  in 


THE  CONVERSION  OF  A  SOUL.  55 

my  mad  career  of  persecution,  and  bestowed  on  nie  his 
regenerating  grace — that  I  may  fulfil  his  benevolent 
designs  in  making  me  a  Christian.  This  does  not 
refer  to  Christ's  special  design  in  calling  Paul  to  be 
the  great  apostle  of  the  gentiles — but  to  those  designs 
which  he  has  in  the  conversion  of  any  soul.  This 
is  manifest  from  the  fact,  that  in  a  subsequent  verse, 
the  apostle  exhorts  all  Christians  to  be  "  thus  minded" 
— that  is,  to  take  the  same  views  of  this  subject,  and 
pursue  the  same  course  that  he  did. 

The  object  of  the  following  discourse  shall  be  to 
inquire  what  the  designs  of  Christ  are  in  the  conver- 
sion of  a  soul — what  is  that  for  which  Christ  appre- 
hends it  in  its  sins,  and  regenerates  it,  and  after  which 
that  soul  should  follow. 

I.  I  remark,  in  the  first  place,  that  it  is  not  the  only 
design  of  Christ  in  converting  a  soul,  merely  to  take  it 
to  heaven.  We  know,  indeed,  that  too  many  profes- 
sors of  religion  assume  it  as  granted,  that  this  is  Christ's 
main  and  only  design  in  their  regeneration,  and  hence 
they  appear  to  be  chiefly  anxious  to  have  just  as  much 
piety  as  will  ultimately  take  them  to  heaven.  Their 
inquiries  and  self-examination  relate  to  the  simple 
fact,  whether  they  have  any  well-founded  hope,  that 
they  shall  be  safe  and  happy  at  last  !  But  if  it  be 
Christ's  main  and  only  design  in  the  conversion  of  a 
soul,  merely  to  take  it  to  heaven,  then  there  are  many 
unaccountable  things,  both  in  the  plan  of  redeniption 
and  in  the  actual  history  of  the  righteous,  in  the  pie- 
sent  world.  On  this  supposition,  it  is  not  easy  to  ac- 
count for  the  fact  that  the  great  majority  of  those 
who  are  converted,  are  made  the  subjects  of  renewing 
grace  while  young  !     If  the  main  and  only  df  ^ign  be 


56  THE  DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN 

merely  to  take  them  to  heaven,  why  not  convert  the 
inmates  of  the  alms-houses  and  lazarrettos  ?  why  not 
apprehend  the  old  and  infirm  ?  why  not  take  all  those 
tottering  on  the  verge  of  the  eternal  world,  and 
crushed  beneath  the  weight  and  woes  of  years,  and 
make  this  the  general  rule  of  conversion,  while  the 
young  shall  form  the  mere  exception  1  On  the  as- 
sumption now  under  consideration,  this  would  ap- 
pear to  be  the  most  benevolent  plan.  We  cannot 
see,  on  this  supposition,  why  God  should  so  often 
choose  heads  of  families,  as  the  subjects  of  his  rege- 
nerating grace.  This  fact  in  itself  would  seem  to  in- 
dicate  that  he  designed  them  to  exert  a  holy  influence 
in  the  various  domestic  relations.  Nor  can  we  see 
why  there'should  be  so  abundant  armour,  both  of  de- 
fence and  of  conquest,  furnished  the  Christian,  if  the 
great  aim  be  merely  to  take  him  to  heaven.  The 
very  organization  of  the  church — the  plan  by  which 
it  is  perpetuated — the  law^s  and  agencies  by  which  it 
is  extended,  w^ould  all  seem  to  indicate  that  in  the 
conversion  of  a  soul,  God  had  other  and  greater  pur- 
poses to  subserve  besides  that  of  merely  taking  it  to 
heaven.  And  if  this  were  his  only  design,  then 
why  delay  to  receive  the  Christian  at  once  to  the 
home  of  the  blest  ?  Why  keep  him  so  long  on  his 
pilgrimage? — why  leave  him  in  this  atmosphere  of 
clouds  and  storms — leave  him  to  wander  and  to  weep 
in  this  land  of  sorrow?  Why  subject  him  for  a 
course  of  years  to  the  exhaustion  and  agony  of 
"wrestling  with  principalities  and  powers,  with  the 
rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  with  spiritual 
wickedness  in  high  places?" 

Why  hold  him  in  connexion  with  the  fallen  race 


THE  CONVERSION  OF  A  SOUL.  57 

amidst  the  jarring  and  repulsive  elements  of  their 
depravity,  often  buffeted  and  bleeding  under  the 
scourge  of  their  tongues  and  the  fangs  of  their  ma- 
lignity and  revenge?  All  this  is  utterly  inexplica- 
ble if  Christ's  great  design  in  converting  a  soul  be 
merely  to  receive  it  to  himself  in  heaven!  Why 
not  give  it  the  wings  of  a  dove  that  it  may  escape 
from  the  storms  of  earth,  and  fly  away  at  once  and 
be  at  rest  in  the  bosom  of  its  God? 

II.  It  may  be  remarked,  in  the  second  place,  that 
one  design  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  converting  a  soul  is 
that  he  may  enstamp  upon  it  his  own  divine  image. 
The  sacred  scriptures  inform  us  that  "  whom  God 
did  foreknow,  them  he  did  predestinate  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  his  Son.''  The  Saviour,  then, 
in  executing  his  work  of  redemption,  must  make  it  a 
primary  design  to  fulfil  this  divine  decree  of  predes- 
tination. He  and  the  Father  are  one  in  those  eter- 
nal counsels  which  relate  to  the  soul's  salvation. 

Christ  declares  this  to  be  one  of  his  designs  in  re- 
newing the  hearts  of  men.  "  I  have  chosen  you  and 
ordained  you,  that  ye  should  bring  forth  fruit,  and 
that  your  fruit  should  remain."  By  this  it  would 
be  manifest  both  to  themselves  and  to  others  that 
they  were  conformed  to  his  image,  '^renewed  in 
knowledge  and  true  holiness  after  the  image  of 
Him  that  created  them."  *'  Chosen  to  salvation 
through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit  and  belief  of 
the  truth."  Then,  my  dear  fellow  Christian,  that 
for  which  you  were  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus  is 
that  he  might  draw  his  own  divine  likeness  on  your  soul. 
In  your  conversion  he  designs  primarily  to  make 
5'ou  personally  holy.     It  is  his  aim  to  trace  his  own 


58  THE  DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN 

lineaments  on  your  soul  in  such  prominence  and  re- 
lief that  you  shall  be  his  witness  in  the  midst  of  a 
crooked    and  perverse  generation.     He   intends  to 
make  you  so  much  like  himself  that  you  shall  be  his 
representative  to  the  world !     Have   you    not    been 
struck  with  the  remarkable  coincidence  of  the  lan- 
guage which  Christ  uses  respecting  himself  and  his 
disciples  in  their  relations   to  the  world  ?     In  one 
passage  he  declares,  "  I  am  the  light  of  the  world," 
in  another,  in  equally  unqualified  terms  he  affirms, 
"  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."     As  the  great  Sun 
of  Righteousness,  it  is  his  design  in  arising  on  you, 
to  shine  upon  your  soul   till   it  is  "made   light  in 
the  Lord."     For  this  great  result  the  Saviour  ap- 
prehended you.     And  this  will  explain  the  meaning 
of  those  rich  provisions  for  your  sanctification  which 
form  so  striking  a  feature  in  the  economy  of  redemp- 
tion.    The  word  of  God,  all  manner  of  prayer  and 
supplications    in   the   Spirit,  the  ordinances  of  his 
house,  the  office  of  the  ministry,  fastings  and  watch- 
ings,  the  whole  administration  of  Providence  with 
its  alternations  of  goodness  and  severity,  mercies  and 
judgments,  and,  superadded  to  all  these,  the  energies 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  give  them  efficacy.     These  are 
the  means  by  which  the  Lord  Jesus  designs  to  bring 
you  to  "  follow  holiness,  without  which  no  man  shall 
see  the  Lord."     "Be  ye  holy  as  your  Father  who  is 
in   heaven    is  holy."     Now,  my  hearers,  light  and 
heat  and  moisture  and  earth  do  not  more  clearly  in- 
dicate that  God,  in  the  material  creation,  designed  our 
world   to  teem   with  vegetable  life,  than  do  these 
means  of  grace  evince  that  Christ  in  the  conversion 
of  a  soul  designs  its    personal  holiness.     By  these 


THE  CONVEHSION  OF  A  SOUL.  59 

means  he  intends  that  every  soul  which  he  converts 
shall  grow  up  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  a 
perfect  man  in  Christ  Jesus.  His  aim  is  nothing 
less  than  this  in  its  very  conversion.  He  would 
have  that  soul  "  a  spectacle  to  the  world  and  to  men 
and  to  angels  "  in  the  splendours  of  that  holiness  to 
which  it  is  recovered  by  his  redeeming  grace.  He 
would  have  it  stand  out  in  its  generation  as  the 
greater  light  to  rule  the  day,  and  to  be  transferred 
when  it  sets  here  to  shine  hereafter  in  the  firmament 
of  God  for  ever.  Christian,  ask  yourself,  as  under  the 
eye  of  Jehovah,  whether  you  are  following  after,  if 
that  you  may  apprehend  this,  for  which  also  you  have 
been  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus. 

HI.  Another  design  of  Christ  in  the  conversion  of 
a  soul  is  to  have  it  derive  its  happiness  from  the  same 
source  from  which  he  derives  his. 

In  nothing  perhaps  has  the  apostacy  more  deeply 
influenced  the  human  mind  than  in  its  estimate  of 
the  source  and  the  means  of  its  real  happiness.  The 
endlessly  diversified  and  contradictory  pursuits  of 
men  all  having  professedly  the  same  end  in  view,  is 
sufficient  proof  that  the  soul  is  labouring  under  a 
fearful  subversion  of  those  original  principles  which 
would  have  led  it  infallibly  to  its  highest  happiness. 
The  mistakes  of  our  Allien  nature  on  tiiis  irreat  sub- 
ject  may  be  ranged  under  the  two  following  heads: 
1st.  That  the  world  in  some  form  or  other,  in  its 
riches  or  honours,  in  its  pursuits  and  pleasures,  in  the 
adaptation  of  its  objects  to  gratify  the  sensitive  part 
of  our  nature,  can  afibrd  satisfactory  and  permanent 
enjoyment  to  the  immortal  mind,  and  2dly,  when  the 
soul,  taught  by  the  bitter  experience  of  all  its  blighted 


60  THE  DESIGN  OF  CHiyST  IN 

hopes  and  prospects  that  the  world  in  no  form  can 
make  it  happy,  thinks  that  religion  itself  only  holds 
out  the  promise  of  being  happy  beyond  the  grave  in 
a  future  state.  Perhaps  there  is  no  view  of  fallen 
man  which  more  excites  the  Saviour's  compassion 
than  to  see  that  strong  desire  after  happiness  with 
which  he  was  originally  created  utterly  perverted, 
and  yet  acting  with  all  its  imperishable  strength  like 
the  might  of  the  madman  hurrying  him  from  scene 
to  scene,  from  one  expedient  to  another,  pursuing 
shadows  and  grasping  at  baubles,  disappointed,  torn, 
bleeding,  faint,  yet  urging  onward  after  some  new 
phantoms  as  old  ones  vanish,  till  life  itself  worn 
out  in  the  chase,  closes  at  last  in  eternal  sorrow  and 
despair. 

Now  when  Christ  converts  a  soul  it  is  his  design 
to  correct  its  mistakes  both  as  to  the  objects,  the  means, 
and  the  pursuit  of  its  highest  happiness.  He  would 
have  that  soul  derive  its  happiness  from  the  same 
great  source  from  which  he  derives  his.  He  would 
have  it  forsake  the  world  in  its  brightest  and  best 
forms,  as  wholly  incompetent  to  furnish  the  elevated 
enjoyment,  or  satisfy  the  infinite  aspirations  of  an  im- 
mortal mind.  He  designs  that  it  should  leave  the 
little  things  of  earth  to  earthly  minds — that  it  should 
estimate  the  trifles  of  the  world  according  to  their 
intrinsic  levity,  and  bear  its  testimon}'  to  their  hol- 
low and  unsatisfcictory  nature  as  the  means  of  man's 
highest  happiness.  Nay,  that  all  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world,  with  all  their  glory,  are  a  price  far  too 
small  to  purchase  from  that  soul  one  act  of  ser- 
vile devotion.  He  has  apprehended  that  soul  in  its 
vain     wanderings   after    enjoyment,    that    it    might 


J 


THE  CONVERSION  OF  A  SOUL.  61 

rise  at  once  to  the  great  fountain  from  which  his 
pure  human  nature  drank  full  draughts  of  bliss  while 
here  on  earth,  and  drinks  them  still  in  heaven. 
He  would  have  the  soul  that  he  converts  to  seek  its 
supremehappiness  in  God  alone,  the  fountain  of  infinite 
and  eternal  felicity — in  holy  communion  with  the  mind 
of  Jehovah — in  adoring  contemplations  of  the  glori- 
ous attributes  of  the  divine  nature,  in  exalted  views  of 
the  extent,  number,  and  grandeur  of  his  works 
throughout  immensity, — in  studying  the  wonders  of 
providence  over  our  world  —  in  ever-expanding, 
ever-thrilling  thoughts  on  the  mysteries  and  magnifi- 
cence, the  developments  and  stupendous  glories  of 
the  plan  of  human  redemption, — in  the  exercise  of 
that  supreme  and  engrossing  love  to  God,  which  his 
perfections  thus  beheld,  will  awaken,  in  the  prayer 
that  holds  sweet  converse  with  the  Eternal — in  the 
faith  that  verily  believes  his  holy  truths — in  the  im- 
mortal hope  that  anchors  on  him  as  its  object — in 
the  gratitude  that  rises  as  volumes  of  incense  to  his 
throne,  and  in  the  incessant  play  of  those  benevolent 
affections  which  are  excited  towards  all  the  rational 
creation.  In  all  these  Christ  would  have  the  regenera- 
ted soul  to  find  its  highest  happiness.  These  were  the 
great  sources  from  which  the  Son  of  God,  in  his  hu- 
man nature,derived  his  holy  joys.  Christian,  he  appre- 
hended you  ihdit  you  might  be  made  happy  by  the  very 
same  objects.  Are  they  not  abundantly  sufficient  to 
bless  you  without  borrowing  aught  from  the  little- 
ness and  meanness  of  earthly  things?  Is  not  this 
an  ample,  a  capacious  fountain  ?  It  is  wide  and  deep 
as  the  being  and  perfections  of  God.  Christ  designs, 
by  your  conversion,  that  you  should  come  at  once  to 
6 


62  THE  DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN 

this  fountain  and  drink — that  you  should  enter  im- 
mediately into  this  joy  of  your  Lord.  Why  should 
YOU  fall  into  the  mistake,  that  you  must  get  to  heaven 
before  you  are  happy  ?  Come  now  to  the  source  that 
made  Christ  rejoice  in  spirit  when  here  on  earth — 
that  made  Paul  and  Silas,  auiidst  stocks  and  stripes, 
break  the  midnight  silence  of  the  "  inner  prison  '^ 
with  their  song  of  gladness,  and  caused  them  to  be 
exceeding  joyful  in  all  their  tribulations.  Here  are 
resources  and  elements  to  make  you  happy,  wholly 
irrespective  of  place,  to  make  you  happy  in  any  world 
of  the  universe,  on  the  most  distant  point  of  God's 
creation,  or  at  any  period  in  the  progressions  of  eter- 
nity. 

IV.  A  fourth  design  of  Christ  in  converting  a  soul, 
is  that  with  all  its  active  powers  it  may  pursue  the  same 
ends  which  he  pursues,  and  be  actuated  by  the  same 
motives  that  influenced  him.  The  world,  even  as  it  "  lies 
in  wickedness,"  presents  some  stupendous  achieve- 
ments of  the  active  powers  of  man.  The  sway  which 
he  has  acquired  over  the  great  agencies  of  matter, 
taming  the  very  lightning,  and  turning  the  most 
terrific  and  destructive  elements  to  the  purpose  of 
his  convenience  and  comfort — the  monuments  of  art 
which  he  has  reared,  and  the  master}^  he  has  gained 
over  the  great  laws  of  nature,  all  these  show,  that 
though  in  ruins,  man  is  a  mighty  being  still,  possess- 
ing energies  that  are  capable  of  being  directed  to 
nobler  objects  than  the  discoveries  of  science  or  the 
triumphs  of  arts  and  of  arms!  But  nothing  is  more 
characteristic  of  our  fallen  condition  than  the  misdi- 
rection and  manifest  perversion  of  man's  activities. 
That  the  energies  of  the  soul  are  biassed  and  diverted 


THE  CONVERSION  OF  A  SOUL.  63 

from  the  great  object,  for  which  they  were  originally 
destined,  we  have  melancholy  proof  in  the  revelry 
and  dissipation,  the  avarice  and  mad  ambition,  and 
all  the  overgrown  schemes  of  wickedness  that  have 
cursed  our  2;lobe.  Now  it  would  be  strange  if 
Christianity  did  not  provide  a  suitable  remedy  for 
this  evil.  It  would  be  strange  indeed  if  in  the  con- 
version of  a  soul  Christ  should  have  no  design  to 
direct  its  immortal  activities  to  an  end  worthy  their 
strength  and  executive  capabilities.  When  he  ap- 
prehends a  soul  that  is  wasting  its  energies  on  plans 
of  sin,  it  is  his  design  to  bring  all  the  powers  of  that 
soul  to  act  rightly — to  pursue  the  same  great  end 
which  he  pursues.  And,  my  dear  hearers,  Christ 
had  and  has  still  a  definite  end  before  him,  which  re- 
gulates all  the  mighty  acts  of  his  mediatorship.  His 
mediatorial  office  is  not  a  mere  sinecure.  He  does 
not  sustain  this  office  without  a  plan  of  sufficient 
amplitude  and  grandeur  to  engross  his  infinite  ener- 
gies in  its  execution.  The  great  end  which  he  is 
pursuing  is  to  manifest  the  glory  of  God  to  the  universe 
by  saving  this  lost  world.  This  brought  him  from 
heaven  to  the  manger  of  Bethlehem  for  his  incarna- 
tion, and  thence  through  a  life  of  unparalleled  sor- 
rows to  Calvary  for  his  crucifixion.  When  entering 
on  the  last  of  his  mortal  conflicts,  he  could  say  with 
emphasis,  "  I  have  manifested  thy  glory,  I  have 
finished  the  work  thou  gavest  me  to  do.''  In  this 
great  work  he  laboured  with  a  benevolence  that 
never  tired — he  pursued  this  end  with  a  purpose 
that  never  blenched.  He  has  risen,  and  reigns  in 
heaven  now,  pursuing  this  object  in  all  the  wide 
range  of  his   mediatorial   government.      His   heart 


64  THE  DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN 

still  glows  with  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  yearns 
in  infinite  solicitude  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 
He  has  established  a"  kingdom  here  on  earth,  with 
vast  resources,  arrangements,  and  agencies,  all  bear- 
ing on  the  grand  result,  to  manifest  the  glory  of  the 
Eternal  Father  and  to  save  our  sinking  globe.  He 
is  pursuing  this  end  with  an  infinite  intensity  of  de- 
sire for  its  accomplishment,  amidst  the  civil,  social, 
and  political  changes  and  revolutions  of  earth.  And 
he  will  pursue  it  till  the  arrival  of  that  august  era  in 
the  grand  cycle  of  ages,  when  he  shall  have  put  all 
enemies  under  his  feet,  and  shall  have  delivered  up 
the  kingdom  to  the  Father,  that  the  infinite  God 
may  be  alt  in  all!  Now,  Christian,  when  he  appre- 
hended your  soul  in  the  gracious  w^ork  of  your  con- 
version, one  design  which  he  had  in  doing  so,  was  to 
bring  you  in  all  your  renovated  activities  to  enter 
on  the  very  same  pursuit.  He  would  have  the  im- 
mortal energies  of  your  mind  rise  at  once  to  an  aim 
sufficiently  lofty  for  God.  He  would  have  all  your 
powers  restored  to  an  employment  like  this,  worthy 
the  dignity  of  your  recovered  nature.  He  would 
have  you  enjoy  the  honour  of  standing  side  by  side 
with  your  Redeemer  in  that  exalted  sphere,  where 
infinite  benevolence  is  at  work,  reflecting  glory  on 
God  and  bestowing  salvation  on  man.  He  would 
have  your  whole  soul  in  harmony — your  whole  heart 
in  sympathy  with  his,  while  as  a  co-worker  with 
him  you  task  your  utmost  energies  in  pursuing  the 
same  high  end  under  the  omnipotence  of  the  same 
holy  motives  which  influenced  him!  0!  Christian, 
have  you  sufficiently  pondered  the  thought  that  it  was 
for  this  that  you  were  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus? 


THE  CONVERSION  OF  A  SOUL.  65 

V.  Lastly.  It  is  the  design  of  Christ  in  con- 
verting a  soul  to  have  it  participate  in  his  own  glory 
and  blessedness  in  eternihj.  Tiic  truth  of  tliis  posi- 
tion the  Saviour  himself  has  sufficiently  attested  in 
the  following  declarations:  "  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you,  and  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I 
will  come  again  and  receive  you  to  myself,  that 
where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also."  '» Father,  I  will 
that  those  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me 
where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold  my  glory."  "To 
him  that  overcometh,  I  will  grant  to  sit  down  with 
me  on  my  throne,  even  as  I  overcame  and  am  set 
down  with  my  Father  on  his  throne."  The  Saviour, 
in  its  conversion,  designs  this  as  the  final  destination 
of  the  soul.  But  it  is  not  an  arbitrary  destination, 
it  is  the  natural  consequence  of  the  soul's  conformity 
to  the  image  of  Christ,  and  of  its  pursuit  of  the  same 
great  end  with  him.  It  is  the  result  of  that  great 
law  of  moral  congeniality  which  acts  on  the  holy 
universe,  binding  them  to  God  as  the  attraction  of 
gravitation  binds  the  material  worlds  of  each  system 
to  a  common  centre.  In  the  great  scheme  of  creation 
every  creature  finds  its  own  place,  its  common  level, 
— finds  an  allotment  suited  to  its  nature  and  habits. 
So  strictly  has  God  preserved  this  order,  that  amidst 
all  the  changes  to  which  created  things  are  subject 
it  has  never  been  broken.  Since  the  creation  the 
eagle  has  never  been  found  dwelling  by  choice  in 
the  depths  of  ocean,  nor  leviathan  sporting  on  the 
land  or  in  the  air.  Now  the  same  great  analogy  per- 
vades the  "  new  creation"  which  Christ  performs  on 
the  souls  of  men.  In  this  there  is  an  order  as  well  de- 
fined and  unvariable — an  order  which  Christ  himself 


66  THE  DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN 

declares  shall  never  be  broken.     All  the  harmonies 
and  adaptations  of  this  system  of  the  new  creation 
are  tending  to  the  sublime  result  of  bringing  the  re- 
newed soul  to  a  participation  in  the  glory  and  bless- 
edness of  its  Redeemer  in  eternity.     Why  has  he 
drawn  on  that  soul  his  own  divine  image?     Why 
taught  it  to  derive  its  happiness  from  the  same  ex- 
alted source  from  which  He  draws  his  own?     Why 
led  it  with  all  its  regenerated  energies  to  pursue  the 
same  noble  end  which  he  pursues,  and  to  feel  the 
controlling  sway  of  the  holy  motives  which  influence 
him?     Evidently  that  that  soul  at  last  may  be  with 
him  where  he  is  to  behold  his  glory.     The  wings 
of  the  eagle  and  the  structure  of  his  eye,  do  not 
more  certainly  fit  him  to  mount  in  the  air  and  gaze 
on  the  sun,  than  do  these  things  fit  the  Christian  to 
participate  in  the  joy  and  behold  the  glory  of  its  re- 
deeming Lord  in  eternity.     There  is  a  congeniality 
in  such  a  soul  that  seeks  fellowship  and  an  eternal 
home  with  the  Lord  Jesus.     It  has  the  very  elements 
of  an  everlasting  ascent  in  the  scale  of  being,  a  holy 
aptitude  to  become  a  partner  in  the  glories  of  Christ's 
mediatorial  throne  in  heaven,  a  participant  in  the 
joys  of  its  Lord  through  eternity.     And  in  its  con- 
version Jesus  designs  that  this  should  actually  be  the 
souFs  ultimate  destination.     Were  not  its  glories  so 
overmatching  to  the  grasp  of   human   thought,  we 
might  here  attempt  to  follow  the  renewed  soul  in  its 
flight  to  that  destiny,  and  to  gaze  on  its  coronation 
and  illustrious  enthronement  with  Christ  in  heaven. 
But  on  such  a  sight  mortal  eyes  cannot  look  stead- 
fastly  "by  reason    of  the    glory   that   excelleth!" 
Christian,  when  Christ  by  his  grace  apprehended  you, 


THE  CONVERSION  OF  A  SOUL.  67 

grovelling  in  tlie  dust  and  maldng  your  way  to  hell, 
it  was  his  design  ultimately  to  clothe  your  soul  in 
the  splendours  of  his  own  glory  on  the  throne  in 
heaven,  to  fill  it  with  the  fulness  of  his  own  joy 
through  eternity. 

What  that  will  be  is  reserved  to  be  made  known 
to  us  by  the  amazing  disclosures  of  our  future  and 
immortal  existence.  All  that  we  can  say  respecting 
it  now  is  to  sum  up  the  struggling  conceptions  of 
our  minds  and  the  laborious  emotions  of  our  hearts 
in  the  inspired  exclamation,  "  Beloved,  now  are  we 
the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall  be,  but  we  know  that  when  he  shall  appear  we 
shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is." 

We  see  from  this  subject,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
great  object  which  Christianity  contemplates  in  the  case 
of  believers  is  but  partially  conceived  of  and  little  under- 
stood. 

When  a  man  is  converted,  the  relation  of  that 
event  to  the  future  destiny  of  his  soul  in  heaven  is 
almost  the  only  relation  that  strikes  the  mind.  The 
idea  that  he  is  to  be  safe  at  last,  or  that  he  is  to  escape 
hell,  is  the  principal  predominating  idea  which  his 
conversion  suggests.  What  a  contracted  miserable 
view  of  the  great  end  of  Christianity  in  recovering 
the  human  soul  from  the  ruins  of  the  apostacy.  It 
is  high  time  that  the  church  should  be  disabused  of 
such  a  view.  She  certainly  must  and  will  be  before 
her  millennium  can  come.  It  is  high  time  that 
Christians  should  be  solicitous,  very  solicitous  about 
something  else  than  merely  finding  an  admission  into 
paradise  after  death.  This  is  not  all  for  which  they 
have  been  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus.     It  is  time 


68  THE  DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN 

that  they  should  feel  a  deep  anxiety  to  fulfil  all  the 
designs  of  Christ  in  their  conversion.  My  Christian 
friends,  why  are  you  not  as  anxious  to  ascertain 
whether  Christ  is  formed  in  your  hearts  and  living 
there,  whether  his  blessed  image  is  drawn  on  you  in 
its  proportions  and  celestial  beauty,  as  you  are  to 
know  whether  you  shall  at  last  be  admitted  into 
heaven?  It  was  as  much  his  design  in  converting 
you  to  make  you  "  holy  and  unblameable  before  him 
in  love,"  to  make  you  so  much  like  himself  that  he 
could  call  you  "  the  light  of  the  world,"  to  make  you 
a  polished  reflector  of  his  own  infinite  purity  upon 
the  eyes  of  your  fellow  men,  as  it  was  to  take  you 
at  last  to  himself  in  heaven? 

Why  are  you  not  as  anxious  noio  to  renounce  the 
pleasures  of  the  world,  and  seek  your  happiness  from 
the  same  exalted  source  with  Christ,  as  you  are  to 
have  the  joys  of  heaven  after  death?  In  your  con- 
version, the  Lord  Jesus  designed  as  much  that  you 
should  quit  the  polluted  streams  of  earth,  and  come 
directly  to  this  great  fountain,  as  he  did  that  you 
should  at  last  drink  of  those  rivers  of  pleasure  and 
partake  of  that  fulness  of  jo}^,  which  are  at  his  right 
hand  for  evermore  !  He  designs  that  you  shall  begin 
your  heaven  here,  and  rely  on  the  same  sources  for 
happiness  noic,  that  will  confer  it  on  you  millions  of 
ages  hence,  in  eternity  !  And  why  are  you  not  just 
as  anxious  to  pursue,  with  untiring  zeal,  and  with  the 
concentrated  activities  of  your  whole  being,  the  same 
high  ends  which  he  pursues,  and  with  the  same  holy 
motives,  as  you  are  to  be  amongst  the  number  of  the 
saved  at  the  day  of  judgment  ?  In  your  conversion, 
he  as  certainly  designed  that  you  should  bring  forth 


THE  CONVERSION  OF  A  SOUL.  69 

much  fruit,  that  your  life  should  exhihit  an  unde- 
viating  career  of  incessant  efforts  to  glorify  God  and 
bless  the  world,  as  he  designs  to  reward  such  labours 
of  love  at  last,  by  a  participation  with  him  in  the 
glories  and  the  bliss  of  his  throne,  in  heaven.  Awake, 
then,  my  Christian  friends,  awake  to  all  tiiese  ends  as 
equally  contemplated  by  Christ  in  your  conversion. 
These  were  the  objects  at  which  Paul  aimed  in  his 
whole  life,  after  which  he  panted  with  unutterable 
desire  as  he  forgot  the  things  that  were  behind,  and 
reached  forth  to  those  that  were  before,  and  pressed 
towards  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus.  These  are  the  legitimate  ends 
of  your  pursuit,  arising  out  of  the  very  designs  of 
Christ  in  your  conversion  !  And  by  all  the  tender 
obligations  which  his  redeeming  love  has  imposed 
on  you,  I  beseech  you  follow  after,  if  that  you  may 
apprehend  (dl  these  for  which  also  you  have  been 
apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus. 

We  see  from  this  subject,  in  the  second  place,  what 
an  unfounded  prejudice  that  is,  which  supposes  that  re- 
ligion  RESERTES  all  its  happiness  for  a  future  state, 
and  that,  too,  to  he  purchased  at  the  sacrifice  of  all  pre- 
sent enjoyment !  It  is  one  great  design  of  Christianity, 
to  recover  the  soul  from  its  perverted  tastes  and  af- 
fections,— its  erroneous  views  and  mad  pursuits  of 
guilty  pleasures,  is  the  cause  of  its  present  want  of 
appropriate  happiness.  The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  full  of  benevolence — a  benevolence  that  will  not 
overlook  the  present  enjoyment  of  the  mind.  Like 
a  pitying  angel,  it  weeps  over  the  ruined  soul  in 
its  fruitless  hurry  to  be  happy,  by  pursuits  and  aims 
which    in  their  very   nature  must   ultimately  only 


70  THE  DESIGN  OF  CHRIST  IN 

plunge  that  soiil  more  deeply  in  spiritual  sorrows! 
And  with  an  angel's  speed,  on  wings  of  love  it  flies 
to  the  lost  sinner,  warns  and  entreats,  reasons  and  re- 
monstrates, invites  and  woos  him  to  make  his  es- 
cape from  the  labyrinth  of  thorns,  and  come  at  once, 
immedtatehj,  on  that  ground,  where  sovereign  mercy 
will  apply  celestial  balm  to  his  lacerations,  where 
eternal  love  will  unseal  to  him  that  great  fountain, 
from  which  a  holy  creation,  with  Christ  at  their  head, 
have  derived  their  full  supplies  of  happiness  !  "  We 
who  believe,  do  enter  into  rest,"  is  the  testimony 
of  all  those  who  cordially  embrace  the  gospel.  And 
this  is  what  Christ  designs  in  converting  you  !  He 
designs  that  your  troubled  heart  shall  have  peace  and 
be  still — that  in  your  hitherto  agitated  bosom,  there 
shall  be  "  a  great  calm.^'  Sinner,  do  you  do  well  to 
have  a  prejudice  against  the  gospel,  and  to  reject  it 
on  the  ground  that  it  wnll  make  you  unhappy  in  the 
present  life  ?  For  the  sake  of  your  own  consistency, 
abandon  this  at  once,  and  if  you  must  be  the  dupe 
of  the  Devil's  deception,  let  it  be  for  some  other  and 
more  plausible  reason  than  that  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  will  render  you  unhappy  in  the  present  \vorld. 
That  religion  to  which  you  instinctively  fly  in  the 
hour  of  3^our  most  tragic  peril  and  calamity — that 
religion  which  you  believe  has  resources  to  sustain 
your  spirit  amidst  the  giant  pangs  and  throes  of  dis- 
solution, to  pour  on  the  shadows  of  death,  a  celestial 
lustre,  and  light  u])  the  sunset  of  the  tomb  with  the 
glories  of  an  immortality  beyond — that  religion  make 
you  unhappy  in  the  present  life!  0  !  can  the  Great 
Adversary  desire  a  better  subject  for  his  burning, 
Satanic  scorn,  than  to  see  a  youth  under  the  sway  of 
a  prejudice  so  infinitely  absurd  ! 


THE  CONVERSION  OF  A  SOUL.  71 

Finally.  We  see  from  this  subject  what  a  glo- 
rious prospect  lies  before  the  Christian  in  a  future  world! 
In  his  conversion  it  is  the  design  of  Christ  that  the 
Christian  should  ultimately  attain  that  eternal  peace 
and  purity  after  which  he  now  pants  !  Yes,  Christian 
friend,  it  is  not  merely  for  a  scene  of  conflict  and  of 
incessant  labour  in  the  feebleness  of  flesh  and  blood, 
that  you  are  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus.  You  are 
destined  to  a  triumph,  whose  grandeur  shall  corre- 
spond with  the  greatness  of  those  spiritual  struggles 
by  which  it  is  to  be  won!  There  is  a  crown  of  joy 
and  a  throne  of  glory  awaiting  you,  that  shall  amply 
compensate  for  the  sorrows  and  the  ignominy  of 
your  mortal  condition.  You  shall  not  always  be  a 
mourning  pilgrim  in  a  strange  land.  There  is  a 
home  in  your  Father's  house  on  high — a  mansion 
fitted  and  ready  for  the  reception  of  your  redeemed 
spirit.  Jesus  has  gone  to  prepare  it  for  you.  Lift 
up  your  heads,  ye  ransomed  of  the  Lord,  and  sing, 
^'  for  your  redemption  draweth  nigh." 

Far,  far  above  yon  azure  sky, 
Heaven's  starry  crowns  and  sun-lit  throne 
Point  to  your  glorious  destiny, 
And  beckon  to  your  endless  home. 

From  clouds  and  darkness  look  away, 
Nor  earthly  sorrows  feel  nor  fear, 
Ye  soon  shall  be  beyond  their  sway, 
Where  God  shall  wipe  life's  latest  tear. 


72  THE  SOURCE  AND  SECURITY 


SERMON   IV. 


THE  SOURCE  AND  SECURITY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN'S 
LIFE. 

"  Because  Hive,  ye  shall  live  also."— John  siv.  19. 

Connected  with  the  principle  of  life,  there  is  a 
mystery  which  the  human  mind  hitherto  has  never 
been  able  to  penetrate.  Many  of  the  phenomena  of 
this  principle  have  been  investigated,  but  the  nature 
of  the  principle  itself  still  remains  unknown.  Hence 
the  existence  of  any  being  considered  absolutely  and 
apart,  could  not,  independent  of  experience  or  obser- 
vation, furnish  evidence  of  the  existence  of  any  other 
being.  I  know  that  it  has  been  argued  that  the  ex- 
istence of  God,  considered  in  itself  alone,  would 
furnish  presumptive  evidence  that  he  would  bring 
into  being  and  sustain  other  existences.  But  this 
argument  is  grounded  on  the  knowledge  which  re- 
velation gives  us  of  Me  attributes  of  God  rather  than 
on  the  conclusions  which  reason  might  draw  respect- 
ing the  mere  existence  of  the  Deity.  Certainly  the 
simple  fact  of  the  existence  of  one  being  cannot  be 
seen  to  have  any  natural  connexion  with  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  another.  To  us  the  assertion  of 
our  blessed  Lord  in  the  text  taken  abstractly  would 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  S  LIFE.  73 

seem  a  dark  saying — "  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live 
also." 

This  declaration  was  made,  too,  just  previously  to 
his  death,  when  sorrow  had  filled  the  hearts  of  his 
disciples  in  prospect  of  that  event.  It  is  evident,  then, 
that  Christ  intended  it  as  the  language  of  consolation 
to  his  followers.  In  the  preceding  verse  he  re- 
marks, "I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless,  I  will  come 
to  you.  Yet  a  little  while,  and  the  world  seeth 
me  no  more,  but  ye  see  me/'  and  to  increase  their 
confidence  and  hope  he  adds — "  Because  I  live,  ye 
shall  live  also."  It  is  obvious  that  his  own  existence, 
to  which  the  Redeemer  here  refers,  was  not  simply 
his  mortal  life,  for  that  was  just  about  to  end.  Nor 
w^as  the  existence  of  his  people,  which  the  text  con- 
templates, merely  their  temporal  being,  for  that  in  the 
course  of  human  events  must  also  terminate.  In  re- 
ference to  himself,  he  here  speaks  of  his  divine  ex- 
istence in  connexion  with  the  human  as  Mediator; — 
in  respect  to  his  disciples,  he  speaks  of  that  spiritual 
life  of  their  souls,  which  distinguishes  them  from  a 
world  "dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins."  It  will  be 
the  object  of  this  discourse,  then,  to  show  that  from 
the  nature  of  ChrisVs  existence  and  its  relations, 
as  the  Son  of  God  and  Mediator,  there  is  the 
highest  ground  of  certainty  that  the  spiritual 
life  of  his  disciples  loill  he  sustained  for  ever. 

I.  To  confirm  this  position,  let  it  be  remarked, 
in  the  first  place  that  such  is  the  nature  of  Christ's 
existence  as  God,  that  it  involves  the  power  of  perpetuating 
itself  eternally ;  and  such  the  nature  of  his  existence  as 
jyiediator,  that  it  is  itself  the  fountain  from  which  is  com- 
municated the  spiritual  life  of  his  disciples. 
7 


74  THE  SOURCE  AND  SECURITY 

Every  unprejudiced  reader  of  the  Bible  must  ad- 
mit that  it  ascribes  to  Jesus  Christ  an  underived,  eter- 
nal, self-existence.  If  not,  Christ  himself  is  found 
a  false  witness,  for  he  declares — "  before  Abraham 
was,  I  AM."  The  scriptures  speak  of  an  "  eternal  pur- 
pose which  God  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus  before  the 
world."  They  speak  of  "grace  given  to  Christians 
in  Christ  Jesus  before  the  foundation  of  the  world." 
The  Redeemer  himself  prays  to  be  glorified  with  that 
glory  which  he  had  with  the  Father  before  the 
world  was.  The  word  of  God  attributes  to  him  the 
creation  of  all  things.  Now  if  there  be  any  mean- 
ing in  this  language,  it  does  evidently  indicate  this 
much  at  least,  that  Christ  existed  before  any  part  of 
the  created  universe.  And  when  we  trace  his  exist- 
ence back  to  that  remote  period,  the  sacred  oracles 
leave  it  merged  in  the  being  of  the  eternal,  self-ex- 
istent Jehovah.  They  give  no  intimation  that  Christ 
has  a  derived  or  dependent  being.  No  account  of 
his  origin.  If  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  his  divine  nature, 
had  had  a  beginning,  assuredly  that  would  have  been 
an  event  of  which  the  universe  might  expect  to  know 
something.  But  whilst  no  part  of  revelation  seems 
to  favour  such  a  supposition,  there  is  one  declaration 
of  Christ  himself  which  proves  the  truth  of  the  contra- 
ry, and  places  it  beyond  reasonable  dispute.  "  /  a?n 
the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  ending, 
the  first  and  the  last;  he  which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to 
come."  Let  any  man  examine  the  structure  of  the 
original  language,  in  which  this  sentence  is  found, 
and  see  whether,  if  divine  wisdom  had  intended  to 
teach  Christ's  underived,  eternal  self-existence,  it 
could   have  selected   more   striking  or  appropriate 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  S  LIFE.  75 

terms.  If  it  be  a  fact  then  that  such  is  the  nature 
of  Christ's  existence  as  God  that  it  is  underived,  and 
has  been  from  all  eternity,  it  is  evident  that  it  must 
inckicle  the  power  of  perpetuating  itself  to  all  eternity. 
What  should  interfere  with  or  mar  that  existence 
which  has  been  derived  from  nothing  else — which 
is  dependent  on  nothing  else  in  the  universe.  With 
our  habits  of  contemplating  the  fleeting  existences 
around  us,  how  striking  and  glorious  a  contrast 
to  them  does  the  essential  being  of  Jesus  Christ 
present.  He  lives  on,  and  shall  live  on  for  ever  in 
the  glories  of  a  self-sustaining  power!  The  revolu- 
tions and  changes  of  earth  with  all  its  materials 
of  rebellion  and  enmity  to  God — the  malignant 
machinations  of  hell  with  all  its  tremendous  agencies 
of  evil — the  revolt  of  angels  and  the  subversion  of 
thrones  and  principalities  in  heaven,  cannot  assail  the 
independent,  eternal  being  of  the  Son  of  God.  The 
utter  annihilation  of  all  creatures  and  all  worlds  in 
the  universe  would  not  affect  his  essential  existence. 
He  would  still  live  alone  in  his  glory!  0  how  re- 
freshing to  look  away  from  a  world  of  death  and 
perpetual  mutation, and  contemplate  the  unchangeable 
and  eternal  existence  of  the  Son  of  God.  But  this 
fact  alone  that  Christ,  as  God,  possesses  an  existence 
that  includes  the  power  of  perpetuating  itself  eter- 
nally beyond  the  possibility  of  change  or  end,  does 
not  furnish  any  ground  of  certainty  that  his  people 
shall  live  for  ever.  But  we  must  connect  with  this 
fact  the  truth  that  Christ's  existence  as  Mediator  is 
itself  the  fountain  from  which  is  commimicated  the  spiri- 
tual life  of  his  disciples.  Of  this  truth  the  Scriptures 
leave  no  room  to  doubt.     The  blessed  Redeemer  de- 


76  THE  SOURCE  AND  SECURITY 

clares — "As  the  living  Father  hath  ^ent  me,  and  I 
live  by"  (or  in)  "  the  Father,  so  he  that  eateth  me" — 
(believes  on  and  receives  Christ)  "even  he  shall  live 
by  me.  For  as  the  Father  hath  life  in  himself,  so 
hath  he  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself.  As 
thou  hast  given  him  power  over  all  flesh,  that  he 
should  give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  thou  hast  given 
him.  In  him  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of 
men.  I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that 
they  might  have  it  more  abundantly.  I  am  the 
bread  of  life — I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life — 
the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  If  these  declara- 
tions have  any  meaning,  they  clearly  teach  us  that 
the  existence  of  Christ,  as  Mediator,  is  the  great 
fountain  from  which  is  communicated  the  spiritual 
life  of  his  people.  Now  as  there  is  an  inseparable 
union  between  the  existence  of  Christ  as  Mediator 
and  his  independent  existence  as  God,  does  not  such 
a  fountain  of  spiritual  life  to  his  people  furnish  a 
high  ground  of  certainty  that  that  life  shall  be  per- 
petuated forever?  This  fountain  is  shoreless  and 
bottomless  as  the  infinite  abyss  of  Jehovah's  being. 
What  though  it  be  supplying  streams  to  this  distant 
part  of  the  universe,and  have  continued  those  streams 
since  the  commencement  of  time?  Can  it  ever  be- 
come exhausted?  Can  the  suns  or  the  winds  of  time 
or  eternity  dry  up  this  boundless  ocean  of  spiritual 
life  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus?  Will  the  revolutions 
of  endless  ages  ever  break  up  the  fountains  of  this 
great  deep  of  life  in  the  being  of  Jesus,  and  scatter 
and  dissipate  its  mighty  waters?  No!  after  it  shall 
have  perfectly  flooded  this  world,  it  will  still  be 
vi^ide  and  deep  and  clear  as  ever.     In  this  view,  then. 


OF  THE  christian's  life,  77 

Christ  might  well  exclaim  to  his  disconsolate  disci- 
ples— "  Because  1  live,  ye  shall  live  also." 

II.  A  second  gi^ound  of  certainty  that  the  Chris- 
tian shall  live  eternally  is,  M«/  the  nature  of  Chris fs 
existence  is  sicch  that  it  gives  him  an  absolute  con- 
trol over  all  the  elements  of  spiritual  life.  We 
find  that  in  order  to  the  continuance  of  animal  life, 
something  more  is  necessary  than  merely  to  fit  up  an 
admirable  vital  machinery,  and  communicate  the  im- 
pulse that  first  puts  it  in  motion.  A  constant  pro- 
cess, both  of  defending  and  sustaining  it,  is  absolutely 
necessary.  From  its  commencement  it  is  surrounded 
by  causes  ever  tending  to  its  destruction,  so  that  life 
has  been  beautifully  said  to  be  "  a  forced  state.  It 
has  to  maintain  its  existence  in  direct  opposition  to 
every  material  agent  in  nature,  each  of  which  seems 
enlisted  in  avowed  hostility  against  its  being.^^  If  it 
continues,  then  some  hand  must  ward  off  these  de- 
structive forces.  In  addition  to  this,  there  are  cer- 
tain elements  of  support  that  must  be  furnished  in 
nicely  adjusted  proportions. — Light  and  heat,  food 
and  air,  in  given  quantities,  seem  indispensable  to  the 
continuance  of  animal  life;  and  these  must  be  admi- 
nistered by  some  hand  that  has  them  completely  un- 
der its  control,  and  can  keep  them  in  their  proper 
combinations  and  proportions.  Without  these  ele- 
ments thus  administered,  the  most  perfect  vital  ma- 
chinery first  put  in  healthful  action,  will  soon  cease 
to  operate,  and  the  spark  of  life  become  extinct. 
Hence  it  is  evident  that  the  continuance  of  animal 
life  is  dependent  on  the  constant  exertion  of  no  less 
a  power  than  that  of  Omnipotence.  Now  the  same 
analogy  holds  in  regard  to  the  spiritual  lifeof  Chris- 
7* 


78  THE   SOURCE  AND    SECURITY 

tians.  Here  it  is  equally  true  that  in  the  continuance 
of  this  life  of  the  soul,  something  more  is  necessary 
than  merely  to  communicate  it  at  first  even  from  the 
glorious  fountain  of  a  Saviour's  infinite  and  eternal 
existence.  Numerous  moi^al  causes  constantly  ope- 
rate within  and  without  the  Christian,  to  destroy  this 
vital  principle.  It  has  to  contend  for  its  existence 
with  all  the  malignant  agencies  of  earth  and  hell,  that 
are  leagued  in  deadly  hostility  against  its  being.  If 
it  continues,  and  successfully  resists  their  action,  it 
will  be  by  the  interference  of  some  mighty  hand  that 
can  control  these  agencies,  and  neutralize  their  powers. 
But  in  addition  to  this,  there  are  certain  great  ele- 
ments of  spiritual  life  that  must  be  administered  with 
constancy  and  infinite  skill,  or  the  bud  of  the  Chris- 
tian's eternal  life  will  be  blasted  and  die.  The  con- 
stant light  and  warmth  of  God's  quickening  Spirit — 
the  food  and  atmosphere  of  truth  in  their  proper  com- 
binations and  proportions,  seem  indispensable  to  the 
continuance  of  spiritual  life. 

Now  such  is  the  very  nature  of  Christ's  existence 
as  God  and  Mediator,  that  it  includes  the  power  of  a 
perfect  control  over  all  tiiese  elements.  As  God,  he 
possesses  an  omniscience  that  comprehends  at  a  glance 
all  the  machinations  of  earth  and  hell — all  the  com- 
bining causes  that  aim  at  the  destruction  of  his  peo- 
ple's spiritual  life.  He  can  measure  with  infinite  pre- 
cision their  power,  and  see  all  their  possible  tenden- 
cies. And  he  possesses  an  omnipotence  that  can 
curb  the  rage  and  malignity  of  apostate  men  and 
fiends  of  darkness,  and  can  destroy  those  fearful 
agencies  of  evil  that  threaten  the  spiritual  being  of 
his  people.     As  Mediator,  the  government  of  the 


OF  THE  christian's  life.  79 

univ^erse  is  laid  upon  his  shoulders,  and  he  lives  to 
administer  it  with  special  reference  to  the  security  of 
the  spiritual  existence  of  his  people,  undisturbed  by 
all  the  forces  that  war  against  it.  And  what  a  con- 
trol must  Omniscience  and  Omnipotence  give  him 
over  all  the  elements  of  spiritual  life?  The  residue 
of  the  Spirit  is  vv^ith  him, — he  is  the  truth,  and  the 
great  organ  of  its  communication  to  the  minds  of 
men.  In  this  respect,  "in  him  dvvelleth  all  tlie  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  bodily."  With  what  infinite 
wisdom  can  he  select  and  combine,  and  in  what  exact 
proportions  can  he  administer  these  elements  of  life 
to  the  soul! — Look  at  his  existence,  and  say  whether 
the  lapse  of  time  will  exhaust  "the  supply  of  the 
spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus."  Look  at  the  treasury 
and  the  nature  of  his  truth,  and  see  whether  the  mind, 
even  with  the  advantage  of  the  illuminations  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  will  ever  be  able  in  this  life  so  to  com- 
prehend all  that  truth,  that  it  shall  begin  to  famish 
for  want  of  resources  to  meet  the  demands  of  its 
growing  powers  of  knowledge?  Transfer  the  mind 
to  a  future  and  endless  state  of  being,  and  see  whether 
the  existence  of  Christ  will  not  enable  him  there  to 
create  around  the  mind  such  an  atmosphere,  and 
command  such  agencies  and  influences  of  the  eternal 
Spirit  upon  it  as  may  be  necessary  to  the  perfection 
of  its  everlasting  life?  Can  he  not  there  place  it 
under  such  successive  disclosures  of  truth,  as  shall 
fill  its  dilating  powers  and  form  it  to  the  measure  of 
the  stature  of  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect? 
0  what  a  wondrous  meaning  shall  our  text  then  appear 
to  convey — "  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."  Yes, 
this  existence  of  Christ,  which   includes  the  power 


80  THE   SOURCE   AND   SECURITY 

of  an  absolute  control  over  all  the  causes  that  militate 
against,  and  over  all  the  elements  that  minister  to 
the  continuance  of  spiritual  life,  furnishes  strong  se- 
curity that  his  people  shall  live  also  for  ever. 

III.  Christ's  existence  as  mediator,  has  been  ex- 
hibited to  man  in  a  form  that  gives  the  highest 
pledge  of  continued  spiritual  life  to  his  people. 

The  Lord  Jesus,  as  mediator,  assumed  our  nature, 
and  took  it  into  inseparable  union  with  his  own  di- 
vine nature.  "  The  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt 
amongst  us,  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  as  the  glory  of 
the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and 
truth.  For  verily  he  took  not  upon  him  the  nature 
of  angels,  but  the  seed  of  Abraham.^ ^  And,  brethren, 
perhaps  we  shall  find  a  depth  of  meaning  in  Christ's 
incarnation,  independent  of  the  fact  that  it  qualified 
him  to  make  the  great  atonement,  of  which  we  have 
heretofore  had  no  adequate  conceptions.  There  are 
two  great  facts  of  the  utmost  moment  to  Christians 
involved  in  the  assumption  of  human  nature  by  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  its  intimate  and  inseparable  union 
with  the  divinity.  One  is,  that  Christ's  human  na- 
ture possessed  a  spiritual  life  of  the  same  character, 
and  begun  and  continued  in  the  same  circumstances 
of  temptation  and  peril  with  that  of  his  disciples, 
and  therefore,  he  has  the  advantage  of  a  personal  ex- 
perience of  every  thing  pertaining  to  the  dangers  and 
conflicts  attending  it,  and  has  given  us  a  practical  ex- 
ample of  the  continuance  and  triumph  of  this  spiritu- 
al life  in  a  condition  of  equal  or  greater  opposition 
than  it  will  ever  be  called  to  encounter  in  the  case 
of  his  followers.  The  other  fact  is,  that  Christ's 
assumption  of  our  nature,  shows  us  what  we  never 


OF  THE  christian's  LIFE.  81 

could  have  learned  otherwise — that  is,  that  human 
nature  is  capable  of  being  taken  into  a  most  intimate 
and  inseparable  union  with  the  divine  nature,  and  of 
existing  in  a  relation  to  the  Godhead  that  may  have 
an  astonish  ins;  influence  on  the  eternal  life  of  the 
soul.  Here  was  a  glorious  and  triumphant  experi- 
ment exhibited  which  the  world  before  had  never 
witnessed,  and  respecting  which  the  loftiest  powers 
of  unassisted  reason  could  have  drawn  no  definite 
conclusion.  Whether  limited  human  nature  could 
ever  be  raised  to  an  indissoluble  union  with  the  di- 
vine, was  a  problem  which,  but  for  [the  peculiar 
form  of  Christ's  existence,  as  Messiah,  must  have 
remained  for  ever  without  a  satisfactory  solution. 
But  what  a  light  does  Christ's  incarnation  throw 
upon  the  following  declaration  of  scripture — "  That 
they  all  may  be  one,  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I 
in  Thee,  that  they  may  be -one  in  us."  What  a 
glorious  significancy  does  the  connexion  of  the  Re- 
deemer's human  nature  with  his  Godhead  give  to 
the  intimate  and  endeared  union  of  his  people  to 
himself.  Now,  it  may  be  asked  whether  this  form 
of  Christ's  existence  manifesting  his  personal  and  ex- 
perimental fellowship  with  all  the  infirmities  of  our 
common  nature,  and  with  all  the  struggles  and  perils 
of  the  spiritual  life — and  whether  this  grand  experi- 
ment showing  in  what  a  close  and  indestructible 
connexion  human  nature  can  exist  with  the  divine, 
does  not  furnish  a  high  ground  of  certainty  that 
Christ's  people  shall  live  eternally?  But  there  is 
another  fact  in  this  form  of  Christ's  existence,  as 
manifested  to  man,  which  goes  to  complete  this  cer- 
tainty.    The  question  still  arises,  notwithstanding  all 


82  THE  SOURCE  AND  SECURITY 

that  has  been  said — '•  What  influence  will  death  have 
on  the  spiritual  life  of  Christians?"  This  spiritual 
existence  is  commenced  and  carried  forward  a  given 
distance  in  the  body, — in  connexion  with  mortal  life. 
The  termination  of  mortal  life  is  a  mysterious  and 
awful  event.  No  one  of  earth's  millions  has  return- 
ed from  that  sad  bourn  that  separates  the  living 
from  the  dead,  to  give  us  the  results  of  his  experi- 
ence, and  tell  us  what  influence  death  exerts  on  the 
agencies  of  the  soul  and  its  mode  of  being.  Have 
we  any  evidence  that  the  spiritual  life  of  the  be- 
liever shall  remain  unhurt  by  that  convulsion  which 
rends  the  tabernacle  of  clay,  and  lays  it  in  ruin? 
These  are  questions  in  themselves  of  most  terrific 
interest!  But  they  are  all  satisfactorily  answered  in 
one  fact  peculiar  to  that  form  of  Christ's  existence 
as  Mediator  which  he  manifested  to  men — that  is,  the 
resurrection  of  his  humannature.  He  triumphed  over 
death  the  third  day,  and  brought  forth  his  mortal 
part  from  the  dark  domain  of  the  King  of  Terrors, 
reanimated,  a  glorious  form.  What  an  illustrious 
proof  that  the  springs  of  spiritual  life  lie  too  deep  to 
be  affected  by  that  strange  work  which  dissolves  the 
connexion  between  soul  and  body!  What  a  con- 
vincing testimony,  that  death  in  nowise  interferes 
with  the  eternal  life  of  the  soul!  Nay!  that  it  can- 
not even  hold  in  its  captivity  the  dust  and  ashes  that 
have  once  been  associated  with  a  soul  possessing 
this  divine  principle.  The  ruins  of  the  believer's 
body,  "shall  be  built  again,  and  all  that  dust  shall 
rise."  "  Now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  and  be- 
come the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept."  And  so 
certainly  as  he  has  presented  in  his  own  risen  human 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  S  LIFE.  83 

nature  these  first  fruits  of  a  general  resurrection,  so 
certainly  will  the  time  of  the  great  harvest  come, 
when  all  the  bodies  of  his  people  of  every  age,  re- 
animated and  reunited  to  their  souls,  shall  be  ga- 
thered to  Mount  Zion  above,  with  the  songs  and 
everlasting  joys  of  triumph  over  death  and  hell!  0, 
Christian  brethren,  when  we  look  at  a  risen  Saviour, 
we  begin  to  feel  something  of  the  infinite  emphasis 
of  the  text — "  Because  I  live,  i/e  shall  live  also.'' 

IV.  And  lastly.     The  nature  and  end  of  Christ's 
existence  in  heaven,  since  his  resurrection,  gives  a  strong 
pledge  of  the  continued  spiritual  life  of  his  people.     Of 
the  nature  and  end  of  Christ's  existence  in  heaven, 
since  his  resurrection,  we  can  know  nothing,  except 
from  revelation.     And  yet  that  his  existence  is  of 
one  peculiar  character,  rather  than  another,  and  that 
it  has  some  definite  aim  or  end,  is  a  conclusion  which 
reason  itself  might  draw.     What  that  peculiar  cha- 
racter is,  the  scriptures  abundantly  testify.     He  lives 
and  sits  on  the  throne,  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  as 
the  advocate  of  his  people.     His  existence,  as  far  as 
it  bears  relation  to  this  terrestrial  scene,  is  employed 
in  the  work  of  intercession — "  seeing  he  ever  liveth  to 
make  intercession  for  us."     He  exists  in  the  specific 
character  of  the  "  great  High  priest  of  our  profession. 
And  he  is  a  merciful  and  faithful  high  priest  in  tilings 
PERTAINING  TO  GoD.''     Brethren,  there  is  meaning 
in  this  assertion — "in  things  pertaining  to  God  !" 
Think  of  his  wonderful  qualifications  as  an  intercessor 
in  his  existence  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on 
high!     He  lives  in  the  council  chambers  of  the  eter- 
nal Mind.     The  secrets  of  Jehovah  arc  with  him. 
He  has  the  most  intimate  knowledge  of  the  whole 


84  THE  SOURCE   AND    SECURITY 

plan  and  movements  of  the  divine  government.  He 
reigns  a  joint  participant  with  the  Father  on  the 
throne  of  heaven.  He  is  there  in  all  his  wisdom,  and 
benevolence,  and  power — his  special  love  and  mercy 
to  the  lost,  with  his  glorified  human  nature  in  the  in- 
ner court  of  Jehovah's  temple,  our  advocate  with  the 
Father!  And  he  has  somewhat  also  to  offer  to  God 
in  our  behalf.  He  has  the  merits  of  an  atonement 
that  stands  the  world's  wonder,  and  that  will  yet  fill 
the  universe  with  those  impressions  of  the  character 
of  God  which  it  exhibits.  He  knows  how  to  plead 
his  own  blood  w^ith  the  Father.  He  knows  its  effi- 
cacy— its  influence  on  the  eternal  JNlind  in  the  plan 
of  moral  government — how  it  can  prevail  for  grace 
to  abound  over  all  those  imperfections  and  grievous 
sins  of  believers,  that  would  otherwise  destroy  their 
spiritual  life.  And  with  all  this  he  has  a  fellow- 
feelin";  of  our  infirmities — retains  his  human  nature 
on  the  throne,  as  the  great  breast-plate  upon  his  di- 
vinity, which  contains  the  names  of  his  disciples  en- 
graven by  the  nails  and  the  spear  that  once  wounded 
him  for  their  transgressions!  0  believer,  look  at 
Jesus  Christ  in  his  intercessory  existence  as  your 
glorious  High  Priest!  What  a  security  is  here  given 
that  you  shall  live  for  ever!  Hear  him  uttering  as 
with  the  trump  of  God — ^'  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live 
also.''  And  now  to  make  assurance  on  this  subject 
doubly  sure,  let  us  look  a  moment  at  the  great  end 
of  Christ's  existence  in  heaven  as  the  Mediator. 
Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  the  Son  of 
God  in  his  risen  human  nature  as  an  intercessor  at 
the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  has  some  grand  and  ul- 
timate  end   in   view   by   existing  in   this    relation. 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  S  LIFE.  85 

What  then  is  this  glorious  aim  of  his  being,  as  Advo- 
cate and  Mediator?  It  is  to  secure  the  eternal  life  of 
his  people — that  he  may  present  them  at  last  before 
his  Father's  throne  without  spot  and  blameless,  and 
confirm  them  in  a  reverseless  and  everlasting  exis- 
tence of  holiness  and  bliss.  0  what  a  security  is 
this!  Think  of  l/iis  end  oi  the  existence  of  Jesus 
Christ,  in  his  glorified  human  nature  in  eternity! 
He  lives  there  with  all  the  associations  of  his  love 
and  sorrows  here  below, — with  the  remembrance  of 
Gethsemane  in  its  gloom  and  groans,  its  tears  and 
prayers,  and  the  sweat  of  its  great  agony — with  the 
remembrance  of  Calvary  in  its  midnight  of  horrors 
— its  bloody  crucifixion  and  its  dying  strife — with 
the  tender  and  delightful  associations  also  of  leaving: 
the  sepulchre  of  Joseph  on  the  morning  of  the  third 
day  a  conqueror  over  death,  hell,  and  the  grave! 
And  now  the  great  end  of  an  existence  connected 
with  such  wonders  of  redeeming  grace  and  dying 
love  is  to  see  the  travail  of  his  soul — is  to  secure, 
beyond  the  possibility  of  failure,  the  eternal  life  of 
those  whom  he  died  to  redeem.  Shall  he  ever  be 
disappointed?  Shall  the  changes  of  time,  and  the 
malice  of  earth,  or  the  progressions  of  eternity,  and 
the  malignity  of  hell,  ever  thwart  this  great  and  ul- 
timate aim  of  his  mediatorial  existence,  pluck  his 
people  out  of  his  hand,  and  terminate  their  life, 
which  is  "hid  with  Christ  in  God?'^  No!  never. 
While  he  lives,  his  people  must,  and  will,  live  also. 
Come,  then,  weak  and  tempted  believer,  you  may 
throw  the  fulness  of  your  soul  into  the  triumphant 
declaration,  ^'  For  I  am  persuaded,  that  neither 
death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  things  present,  nor 
8 


86  THE   SOURCE   AND   SECURITY 

things  to  come,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able 
to  separate  me  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus !'^ 

I.  If  this  view  of  the  subject  be  correct,  then  we 
may  see  that  the  doctrine  o^  falling  from  grace,  as  it 
is  ordinarily  termed,  is  one  which  is  not  only  with- 
out foundation  in  tlie  scriptures,  but  one  which 
greatly  derogates  from  the  mediatorial  glory  of  the 
Son  of  God.  According  to  this  doctrine,  the  ex- 
istence of  Jesus  Christ  with  all  his  command  and 
control  over  the  moral  elements  of  the  universe,  fur- 
nishes no  pledge  that  his  people  shall  live  also.  It 
is  a  doctrine,  then,  which  invades  the  very  sanctuary 
of  Christ's  being,  and  tramples  under  its  reckless  feet 
the  self-existence,  omnipotence,  omniscience,  cove- 
nant-keeping faithfulness  and  immortal  intercessions 
of  the  great  Head  of  the  church.  Towards  our 
brethren  in  Christ  who  hold  this  erroneous  opinion, 
we  indulge  no  other  feelings  than  those  of  the  most 
entire  kindness  and  Christian  friendship.  Towards 
the  opinion  itself,  abstractly,  we  indulge  an  irrecon- 
cilable hostility,  and  consider  it  one  of  the  most  un- 
scriptural  and  untenable  positions  that  can  be  found 
in  a  CJiristian  denomination's  creed. 

II.  Let  Christians  learn  from  this  subject,  their  in- 
finite obligations  of  gratitude  and  love  to  Christ,  and 
let  them  be  careful  not  to  abuse  the  doctrine  of  the  perse- 
verance of  the  saints,  so  clearly  taught  in  our  text. 

Christian,  come,  and  in  the  light  of  Christ's  decla- 
ration, that  "  because  he  lives,  you  shall  live  also," 
look  at  the  height  and  depth  of  your  obligations 
to  be  grateful,  and  to  love  him  supremelj^and  for  ever. 
Were  some  benevolentindividual  to  assure  vou  to-dnv 


OF  THE  CllUISTIAN  S  LIFE.  87 

that  at  great  expense  and  much  personal  suffering  and 
sacrifice,  he  had  secured  to  you  in  some  mysterious 
way,  a  life  long  as  that  of  Methuselah,  and  happy  as 
that  of  Enoch,  and  that  you  might  look  forward  to 
seven  or  eight  hundred  years  of  enjoyment  without 
anticipating  any  of  the  distressing  evils  of  earth,  no 
thought  of  dying  and  of  dread  uncertainty  when  that 
event  should  occur  need  to  cross  your  mind,  and 
during  all  these  happ}^  centuries  your  sight  should 
not  grow  dim,  nor  your  natural  force  be  abated,  you 
should  be  able  to  enjoy  life  as  with  all  the  freshness 
of  youth,  what  gratitude  would  fill  your  heart  toward 
such  a  benefactor,  what  love  would  bind  you  to  his 
person! 

You  would  be  able  to  feel  the  nature  of  the  blessing, 
inasmuch  as  we  all  cherish  so  strong  desires  to  live, 
and  you  would  think  of  the  friend  who  had  secured 
you  from  all  fear  of  death  and  of  interruption  of  en- 
joyment for  so  many  centuries,  you  would  think  of 
him  with  an  irrepressible  ardour  of  love.  And,  dear 
fellow  Christian,  have  you  not  had  moments  when 
you  felt  how  infinitely  more  valuable  was  the  life  of 
the  soul  than  that  of  the  body,  with  all  its  temporary 
enjoyments?  It  is  the  life  of  your  soul  that  Jesus 
Christ  has  secured  with  absolute  certainty  for  ever. 
Yea,  he  has  bound  it  up  in  mysterious  indissoluble 
union  with  his  own  glorious  existence.  He  has  ac- 
tually formed  a  connexion  between  his  own  un- 
changing being  and  your  spiritual  life,  that  nothing 
through  eternity  shall  sever.  He  has  not  merely  se- 
cured to  you  a  few  centuries  of  earthly  enjoyment; 
he  has  made  your  immortality  with  its  exceeding 
weight  of  glory  certain  as  his  own!  '*  Because  I  live, 


88  THE  SOURCE  AND  SECURITY 

ye  shall  live  also.'^  Brethren,  suppose  this  sublime 
fact  were  revealed  to  us  now  for  the  first  time,  bow 
would  it  affect  us?  Suppose  it  were  to  come  in  the 
full  light  of  conviction  immediately  in  contact  with 
our  darkness  and  forebodings  of  eternal  death  as 
ruined  sinners?  Could  our  feeble  frames  sustain  our 
minds  under  the  emotions  it  would  thus  excite?  0 
what  feelings  of  gratitude  to  Christ,  "who  is  our 
life,"  what  a  glow  of  holy  love,  what  captivity  and 
subjection  of  all  our  powers  to  such  an  infinitely 
glorious  benefactor!  Would  any  sacrifice  seem  great 
that  he  would  command  or  that  we  could  make? 
Would  any  self-denial  for  his  sake*  seem  severe? 
Now  the  truth  that  Christ  has  so  secured  the  eternal 
life  of  your  souls  ought  not  to  lose  any  of  its  im- 
pressiveness  because  it  may  have  been  long  and  fa- 
miliarly known  to  you.  It  is  still  a  wonderful,  a 
glorious  fact;  one  on  which  the  redeemed  will  dwell 
with  rapture  in  a  future  world.  Its  solemn  weight 
ought  to  press  in  upon  your  souls  a  sense  of  obliga- 
tion to  the  blessed  Redeemer  whose  force  would 
«'  bring  every  thought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience 
of  Christ." 

Finally, — We  see  from  this  subject  the  point  of 
that  scripture  which  saith,  «'  he  that  hath  not  the  Son, 
hath  not  life.  It  is  a  fact  of  fearful  import  that  the 
impenitent  are  wholly  severed  from  the  life  that  is 
in  Christ  Jesus.  My  dear  friends  of  this  class,  you 
are  capable  of  being  roused  to  intense  thoughtfulness 
and  effort  when  your  temporal  life  is  endangered. 
Have  you  ever  seriously  thought  what  it  was  to  be 
destitute  of  all  spiritual  life? — to  be  met  in  your 
present  pathway  with  the  certain  prospect  of  eternal 


OF  THE  christian's  LIFE.  89 

death?  If  you  have  not  the  Son  of  God  formed  in 
your  heart  and  living  there,  you  have  no  life.  What 
a  condition  for  the  soul  which  God  has  made  to  be 
destitute  of  any  interest  in  the  existence  of  Christ  the 
Mediator!  No  connexion  between  your  immortal 
part  and  his  infinite  being  that  secures  to  you  the 
prospect  of  living  in  bliss  for  ever.  Nay,  the  very 
fact  that  he  lives  and  shall  live  eternally,  furnishes  a 
dire  certainty  that  those  who  reject  him  and  perse- 
vere in  rebellion,  must  perish  from  his  presence  for 
ever.  His  very  existence  as  God,  gives  him  a  con- 
trol over  all  those  elements  in  the  universe  by  which 
he  will  vindicate  his  injured  honour,  his  insulted 
love,  and  his  rejected  mercy.  It  is  the  great  decree 
of  Heaven,  "  He  must  reign  till  He  shall  have  put  all 
enemies  under  His  feet.''  He  will  live  on  then  to 
meet  you,  0  sinner,  in  the  great  day,  in  his  glorified 
human  nature  as  the  Mediator,  to  confront  you  with 
that  body  that  was  bruised  for  your  iniquities,  with 
that  soul  that  was  made  an  olTering  for  your  sin,  to 
speak  to  you  of  bleeding  dying  love  set  at  naught, 
of  winning,  weeping  mercy  despised,  of  pardon  and 
eternal  life  freely  offered,  and  by  you  freely  rejected. 
He  will  live  yet  to  show  you  the  scars  of  those 
wounds  from  which  flowed  the  blood  that  you  have 
trodden  under  foot  and  counted  an  unholy  thing! 
He  will  live  to  break  upon  your  agonized  vision  in 
the  glories  of  that  eternal  Spirit  to  whom  you  have 
done  despite  in  this  land  of  probation.  0,  how  full 
of  awfulness  is  the  truth  that  Christ  is  alive  and  shall 
live  for  evermore,  and  becaicse  he  lives,  the  finally 
incorrigible  must  die  an  eternal  death  in  his  righteous 
government. 


90  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 


SERMON  V. 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  MORAL  COURAGE  AND  SOME 
OF  THE  EXIGENCIES  THAT  CALL  FOR  ITS  EX- 
ERCISE IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

"  As  an  adamant  hai'der  than  flint,  have  I  made  thy  forehead:  fear  them 
not,  neither  be  dismayed  at  their  looks,  though  they  be  a  rebellious 
house."* — Ez.  iii.  9. 

In  the  earlier  and  ruder  ages  of  the  world,  feats 
of  physical  strength  and  displays  of  mere  animal 
prowess  were  held  in  high  esteem,  and  much  ad- 
mired. These  were  the  foundation  of  that  superiority 
and  controlling  influence,  which  certain  individuals 
held  over  their  fellows.  But  advancing  intelligence, 
civilization  and  refinement  have  introduced  a  differ- 
ent taste,  and  brought  into  esteem  a  higher  order  of 
power.  Divine  revelation  has  been  in  advance  of 
all  other  causes,  in  efiecting  this  result.  The  model 
of  character  which  the  Bible  presents — the  deeds  to 
which  it  urges,  and  the  display  of  powers  which  it 
demands,  are  far  more  exalted  than  those  of  the  da- 

"^  This  sermon  was  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  Synod  of 
Pennsylvania,  convened  in  Hai-risburg,  Pa.,  Oct.  1843.  On  the  day 
following  its  dehvery,  the  Synod,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  requested  a  copy 
of  it  for  publication. — The  author,  for  certam  reasons  then  deemed  suffi- 
cient, declined  at  that  time  a  compliance  with  the  request. 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  91 

diator  or  the  wrestler,  the  hero  of  romance,  the  knight 
of  chivalry,  or  the  modern  warrior.  The  Bible  has  had 
no  slight  agency  in  rendering  the  distinction  between 
mind  and  matter  broad  and  palpable,  and  in  showing 
the  superiority  of  the  former  over  the  latter.  Pagan 
Greece,  and  Rome,  in  the  palmiest  days  of  their  civi- 
lization and  refinement,  seem  to  have  had  no  just  con- 
ceptions of  what  constituted  the  highest  and  noblest 
display  of  human  power.  Hence  the  savage  pleasure 
which  they  derived  from  witnessing  the  conflict  of 
infuriated  brutes,  the  dexterous  death-blow  of  the 
gladiator,  or  the  mere  muscular  superiority  of  the 
wrestler  and  the  racer.  It  was  reserved  for  revela- 
tion to  point  out  to  man  a  higher  and  nobler  sphere 
of  exertion,  to  define  what  kind  of  power  is  destined 
to  have  a  permanent  ascendency  in  the  economy  of 
God,  and  to  teach  the  human  intellect  loftier  aspira- 
tions than  Greek  or  Roman  ever  knew.  The  Bible 
withdraws  attention  from  mere  bodily  strength,  over- 
looks blind  animal  courage,  and  tells  "the  mighty 
man  not  to  glory  in  his  might."  It  makes  no  ac- 
count of  these  things,  but  presenting  us  in  our 
higher  relations  and  destinies  as  moral  and  immortal 
beings  in  a  world  of  probation,  and  dire  spiritual 
conflict,  it  pours  upon  our  ear  its  thrilling  voice  of 
command  and  encouragement.  "  Quit  you  like  men, 
be  strong!"  "As  an  adamant  harder  than  flint, 
have  I  made  thy  forehead;  fear  them  not,  neither  be 
dismayed  at  their  looks,  though  they  be  a  rebellious 
house." 

This  strong  figurative  language  of  our  text,  is  in- 
tended to  express  the  fact,  that  God  had  endowed 
his   ministering  servant,  the   prophet,  with  an  un- 


92  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 

blenching  moral  courage,together  with  the  implication, 
that  in  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duty,  he  would 
need  such  a  courage.  This  is  a  kind  of  power  that 
"  in  the  sight  of  God  is  of  great  price."  That  mo- 
ral force  which  anchors  a  man  to  his  principles, 
and  holds  him  firmly  there  in  defiance  of  the  tumul- 
tuous violence  of  an  organized  opposition  from  earth 
and  hell — that  impulsive  energy  which  carries  him 
through  the  faithful  performance  of  duty,  despite  his 
own  remaining  depravity,  and  the  dismaying  array 
of  outward  resistance  and  perils,  is  a  power  far  more 
august  and  sublime  than  the  mightiest  agency  of 
matter  or  the  mere  physical  force  of  any  number 
and  combination  of  men.  Such  is  the  force,  such 
the  energy  of  the  moral  courage,  disclosed  in  the 
metaphorical  language  of  our  text.  ^^  As  an  adamant 
harder  than  flint,  have  I  made  thy  forehead.^^ 
My  object  in  the  subsequent  remarks  shall  be,  1st,  to 
inquire  into  the  nature  or  foundation  of  this  moral 
courage,  and  2d,  to  notice  some  of  the  exigencies 
that  call  for  such  a  courage  in  the  ministry  of  the 
gospel, — And, 

1.  1  remark  very  briefly,  ^7  is  7iot  founded  on  phy- 
sical courage,  or  a  reckless  hardihood  of  natural 
temperament. 

Some  men  are  constitutionally  indififerent  to  dan- 
ger and  difficulties.  They  feel  less  and  fear  less  than 
others  of  a  different  mould.  By  a  kind  of  blind  ani- 
mal force,  they  brave  obstacles  and  surmount  diffi- 
culties that  would  overwlielm  more  timid  spirits. 
But  it  is  not  natural  buoyancy  nor  constitutional  bra- 
very that  can  breast  the  tremendous  resistance  made 
to  the  office  of  the  ministry,  or  cope    successfully 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  93 

vvitli  the  gigantic  spiritual  evils  that  lie  in  the  Chris- 
tian's pathway  to  heaven.  Brute  daring  may  figure 
and  vaidt  on  the  arena  of  physical  strife,  where  hu- 
man muscles  form  the  contending  forces.  But  its 
prowess  is  lost  when  you  transfer  it  to  the  sphere 
where  the  redeemed  soul  wrestles  "with  principali- 
ties and  powers,  with  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of 
this  world,  with  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places.^' 
For  that  conflict  the  mind  must  be  armed  with  a 
courage  of  higher  and  heaven-born  origin,  of  mightier 
and  nobler  impulse. 

II.  Nor  is  this  moral  courage  draimi  from  out- 
10 ard  favourable  appearances.  There  is  a  fitful 
encouragement,  a  buoyancy  and  hope  in  religious 
matters  that  wax  and  wane  with  the  lights  and  sha- 
dows of  outward  appearances.  Israel  sang  and  shouted 
in  view  of  the  palpable  interposition  of  God  in  their 
behalf  at  the  Red  Sea,  but  their  hearts  and  hopes 
sank  in  dismay  at  the  stern  barrenness  of  the  desert, 
and  they  distrusted  God  for  bread  and  water.  Now 
the  moral  courage  contemplated  in  our  text  has  no 
necessary  connexion  with  outward  favourable  ap- 
pearances. The  prophet  Ezekiel  had  no  flattering- 
prospects  of  a  successful  and  popular  ministry 
amongst  the  Jews  at  that  time,  nor  any  alluring  ap- 
pearances to  stimulate  him  to  a  faithful  and  fearless 
performance  of  liis  oflicial  duties.  They  were  a  "re- 
bellious houFe,"  whose  very  "  looks"  were  appalling 
to  flesh  and  blood.  So  far  from  its  being  founded 
on  favourable  appearances,  true  moral  courage  can 
only  exist  and  be  displayed  in  the  absence  of  such 
appearances.  It  is  the  means  by  which  God  keeps 
the  soul  undaunted  in  duty,  when  surrounded  by  all 


94  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 

those  threatening  and  imposing  forms  of  evil,  which 
appal  tlie  eye  of  sense.  Sustained  by  it  Paul  and 
Silas,  amidst  stocks  and  stripes,  chains  and  manacles, 
in  the  "innermost  prison,"  sang  praises  to  God  at 
midnight.  It  is  the  provision  which  God  has  made 
to  bear  up  the  soul  in  conscious  triumph  and  noble 
daring,  ihougli  the  heavens  over  it  gather  blackness, 
and  tiie  very  '-  foundations  of  the  world  be  out  of 
course."  If  then  this  moral  courage  is  not  the  result 
of  physical  temperament,  or  natural  bravery,  nor  de- 
rived from  favourable  appearances,  what  is  its  foun- 
dation ?     I  answer, 

III.  That  intelligent  views  of  the  real  character  of 
God  form  a  part  of  its  foundation.  Ignorance  of 
God  is  the  parent  of  superstition  and  of  slavish  fear. 
The  distorted  views  which  the  sinner  takes  of  the 
Divine  character  fill  him  with  dismay,  gloom  and 
despondency.  And  yet  in  the  real  character  of  God, 
as  beheld  and  adored  by  the  renewed  soul,  there  is  a 
celestial  inspiration;  a  spirit-stirring,  captivating 
glory  in  every  perfection  of  the  divine  nature.  That 
soul  contemplates  the  whole  character  of  God.  His 
self-existence,  independence,  immutability,  omnipo- 
tence, omniscience,  omnipresence  and  infinite  wis- 
dom,— His  benevolence,  his  justice,  holine.^s,  truth, 
faithfulness,  and  especially  his  boundless,  eternal  love 
and  mercy  in  Christ  Jesus  to  lost  sinners.  What 
a  resplendent  assemblage  of  attributes  are  these! 
When  spiritually  discerned  and  believed  in  by  a 
faith  that  gives  to  them  substance  and  living  reality, 
they  vvin  the  highest  confidence  of  all  holy  minds. 
The  Christian  can  confide  in  such  a  God  with  an  un- 
shaken trust.     The  vision  of  his  glory  especially  as 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  95 

it  shines  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  inspires  the  sanc- 
tified heart  with  a  high  moral  courage.  How  ob- 
vious is  it  that  such  a  heart  will  swell  with  the  in- 
spirations of  a  divine  bravery,  from  contemplating 
the  real  character  of  a  God  of  love,  whose  truth  and 
faithfulness  are  for  ever  round  about  him,  and  justice 
and  judgment  the  habitation  of  his  throne,  a  God 
who  always  dares  to  do  right,  though  in  doing  it  he 
should  damn  angels  to  "everlasting  chains  under 
darkness,"  and  encounter  the  system  of  an  eternal 
hell  as  a  blot  on  the  otherwise  fair  map  of  his  uni- 
verse. How  naturally  will  a  holy  mind  derive  an 
undaunted  moral  courage  from  its  views  of  the  cha- 
racter of  such  a  God,  even  in  the  hour  of  greatest 
temporal  peril  and  depression.  The  gloom  that  set- 
tles on  the  Christian's  heaviest  hours  here  cannot 
alter  or  obscure  the  glory  of  these  august  attributes 
of  Jehovah!  High  above  the  clouds  and  darkness 
of  earth,  they  shine  out  and  shine  on  forever  the  same. 
No  "variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning"  pertains 
to  them.  Bright  and  unchangeable, — the  grand 
constellation  of  eternity, — they  attract  the  confi- 
dence, fire  the  courage,  exalt  the  hope,  light  the  way 
and  cheer  the  heart  of  the  Christian,  even  when  "  tost 
by  tempests  and  not  comforted"  by  any  earthly  so- 
lace. That  mind  which  has  intelligent  views  of  the 
real  character  of  God  can  draw  thence  a  never-fail- 
ing, all-sustaining  courage  amidst  the  mightiest  diffi- 
culties and  the  deepest  depressions  of  the  Christian 
warfare!! 

IV.  Another  element  of  this  moral  courage  is  a 
living  failh  in  the  truth  of  God's  word.  God  has  made 
his   truth    to    be   the    great    aliment    of  mind, — the 


96  THE  TRUE   FOUNDATION 

means  of  vitality  and  growth  to  all  the  nobler  prin- 
ciples of  our  spiritual  nature.  Light  is  not  more 
adapted  to  the  structure  of  the  eye  than  is  divine 
truth  to  the  moral  susceptibilities  of  the  mind. 

Truth  is  both  the  strength  and  the  armour  of  the 
Christian  soldier.  "Having  your  loins  girt  about 
with  Iruthy  and  taking  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which 
is  the  word  of  God."  There  is  an  indomitable 
energy  in  that  living  faith  which  embraces  the  great 
circle  of  revealed  truth,  and  plants  itself  in  an' im- 
moveable confidence  on  the  testimony  of  God.  This 
results  from  the  very  nature  of  divine  truth  when 
fully  accredited.  Not  only  the  disclosures  which  it 
makes  of  the  infinite  perfections  of  Jehovah, — but 
the  views  it  presents  of  his  great  and  glorious  de- 
signs, his  eternal  purposes  and  decrees  moving  on  to 
a  certain  fulfilment  and  a  sublime  consummation, — 
his  grand  scheme  of  providence,  wise,  benevolent, 
and  administered  with  a  divine  exactitude  and  power 
that  include  the  fall  of  a  sparrow  not  less  than 
the  fate  of  empires  or  the  dissolution  of  worlds. 
The  character,  hopes,  and  destinies  of  men  disclosed 
in  the  grand  economy  of  redemption, — the  oath  of 
the  everlasting  covenant, — the  great  and  precious 
promises, — the  pledges  of  almighty  aid  to  our  mortal 
weakness,  and  the  guarantee  of  an  ultimate  victory 
over  death  and  the  grave,  and  an  eternal  weight  of 
glory  in  a  future  w^orld — the  faith  that  clings  with 
certainty  and  assurance  to  truths  like  these,  will  in- 
spire a  moral  courage  that  will  cut  its  way  to 
"honour,  immortality  and  eternal  life,"  through  all 
the  embattled  hosts  of  earth  and  hell !  What  wonder 
that  ancient  worthies,  fired  with  the  divine  braverv 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  97 

of  faith,  should  have  "subdued  kingdoms,  wrought 
righteousness,  obtained  promises,  stopped  the  mouths 
of  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the 
edge  of  the  sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made 
strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  and  turned  to  flight 
the  armies  of  the  aliens!" 

V.  and  LASTLY  on  this  point.  The  testimony  of  a 
good  conscience,  and  a  sense  of  the  presence  and  favour 
of  God,  are  vital  to  the  existence  of  moral  courage. 
"  The  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursueth,  but  .the 
righteous  are  bold  as  a  lion."  Guilt  and  moral  cow- 
ardice are  inseparable  companions.  When  conscience 
is  burdened  with  unrepented  sin,  the  soul  is  filled 
with  doubt,  darkness,  distrust  and  desponding  fears. 
Guilt  rolls  up  a  thick  cloud  between  it  and  its  God, 
so  that  his  real  character  cannot  be  seen.  The  ope- 
ration of  faith  on  divine  truth  is  thus  crippled,  a  voice 
of  thunder  given  to  the  threatenings  of  God,  and  the 
mind  agitated  with  unbelieving,  slavish  fear.  Moral 
courage  and  a  bad  conscience  can  never  co-exist  in 
the  same  individual.  An  approving  conscience,  void 
of  oflence  tow\ards  God  and  towards  man,  is  indis- 
pensable to  such  courage.  The  soul  must  be  sweetly 
at  peace  with  God,  the  conscience  being  purified  by 
the  blood  of  sprinkling,  and  the  whole  energies  of 
the  man  must  be  emploj^ed  in  avoiding  even  the  ap- 
pearance of  evil,  and  in  punctually  performing  all 
known  duty,  if  he  would  feel  the  inspirations  of  that 
divine  courage  which  will  sustain  the  soul  undaunted 
amidst  all  the  terrors  of  the  Christian  warfare.  But 
something  more  than  this  is  necessary  to  such  a 
courage.  It  is  a  courage  derived  directly  from 
God.      "  As  an  adamant  harder  than  flint  have  I  made 


98  THE  TRUE   FOUNDATION 

thy  forehead."  There  must  be  a  holy  fellowship, 
an  intimate  communion  between  the  soul  and  God, 
giving  assurance  of  the  Divine  acceptance  and  favour. 
The  blessed  sense  of  being  a  member  of  the  family 
of  God, — of  being  reconciled  to  him  through  the 
blood  of  his  dear  Son, — of  having  him  as  our  God 
and  Father  in  Christ  Jesus,  bound  to  us  by  ties 
of  eternal  love — pledged  to  us  in  all  the  power,  wis- 
dom, goodness,  faithfulness  and  truth  of  his  infinite, 
unchangeable  nature, — that  this  "  God  is  our  God  for 
ever,'' — his  word  our  portion — his  love  the  element 
of  our  spiritual  life — his  mercy  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
hope — his  indwelling  Spirit  our  comforter  and  sancti- 
fier, — his  universal  providence  concurring  for  and  cen- 
tring in  our  good,  and  ultimately  to  extract  from  our 
very  afflictions  here  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory  hereafter.  The  blessed  sense  that  this 
God  is  not  only  our  God  by  formal  covenant,  but  that 
he  has  given  to  us  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit — that  we 
now  feel  his  favour  over  us  as  a  shield, — we  see  his 
reconciled  face  lit  up  with  smiles  of  approbation, — we 
realize  our  endeared  relation  to  hiin  as  his  children, — 
feel  an  unshaken  security  in  his  holy  presence  alwa3^s 
abiding  with  us — it  is  this  that  inspires  man  with 
a  sublime  moral  bravery !  Here  is  the  grand  secret 
of  that  courage  which  triumphs  over  the  terrors  of 
the  stake  and  the  flames  of  martyrdom !  The  con- 
sciousness of  the  love  and  presence  of  God, — the 
confidence  of  pleasing  him, — the  hidden  power  of 
contact  and  holy  communion  with  the  infinite 
Mind — the  realization  of  sharing  Je/iot-a/i's  sympathies 
and  being  enfolded  in  the  amis  of  his  almightiness, 
this   will   file   the   Christian's   heart   with    a   moral 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  99 

courage  which  no  terrors  can  appal,  and  tlic  cold 
wave  of  death  itself  cannot  extinguish.  Havino;  thus 
examined  the  nature  or  foundation  of  moral  courage, 
I  now  proceed,  in  the 

II.  place,  to  notice  some  of  the  exigencies  that 
call  for  such  a  courage  in  the  ministry  of  the  gos- 
pel, 

I.  The  very  position  or  relations  of  the  minister  of  the 
gospel  to  a  world  that  lieth  in  wickedness,  require  him 
to  possess  a  high  moral  courage.  He  stands  as  the 
ambassador  or  representative  of  a  Master  "despised 
and  rejected  of  men,"  and  "  hated  without  a  cause." 
The  minister  of  the  gospel  is  regarded  as  a  kind  of 
impersonation  or  imbodiment  of  the  religion  which 
he  teaches — a  religion  of  "awful  goodness" — of 
dreaded,  hated  sanctions — of  severe  and  solemn  pre- 
cepts, and  of  august  and  fearful  destinies.  The 
minister  is  identified  with  this  religion,  and  looked 
upon  as  the  main  pillar  of  a  system  that  is  felt  to  be 
at  war  wuth  the  whole  course  of  this  present  evil 
world.  Now,  there  is  a  class  of  men  who  hate  re- 
ligion for  its  own  sake,  and  seem  to  be  "  leagued 
by  a  sworn  hostility  "  to  the  hopes  of  a  happy  here- 
after. This  class  very  naturally  single  out  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel  as  the  objects  of  their  dead- 
liest enmity,  and  hurl  at  them  the  envenomed  mis- 
siles of  their  wit,  sarcasm,  ridicule,  scoffs,  slanders 
and  violent  invectives,  just  because  the  holy  office, 
in  their  minds,  is  inseparably  associated  with  the 
hated  religion,  whose  ordinances  it  administers.  Now 
ministers  have  the  sensibilities  of  men  and  a  natural 
love  of  reputation,  and  it  will  require  a  high  moral 
courage   to   breast  the  shock  of  these  assaults   un- 


100  THE  TRUE   FOUNDATION 

moved  ! — *' As  an  adamant  harder  than  flint/^  must 
be  his  "forehead,"  who  escapes  wounds  and  blood 
from  those  poisoned  arrows,  and  fearlessly  maintains 
the  field  when  they  are  flying  thickly  around  him. 
But  the  minister  not  only  occupies  the  negative  posi- 
tion of  a  representative  of  Christ  and  of  religion  to  the 
world,  he  is  also  Heaven's  authorized  organ  of 
REBUKE  to  the  vices  of  that  world!  He  stands  as 
the  expositor  of  the  holy  law  of  God — the  advocate 
of  its  uncompromising  claims  on  the  conscience  and 
the  heart  of  a  revolted  and  rebellious  race!  He  is 
to  hear  the  word  at  God's  mouth,  and  give  the  wick- 
ed warning  from  him — He  is  to  gather  the  darkness, 
and  thunder  and  lightning  of  Sinai  over  the  guilty- 
pathway  of  every  transgressor — to  reiterate  God's 
own  condemnation  on  the  maxims  and  customs,  the 
principles  and  motives,  the  pleasures,  pursuits,  pas- 
sions, hopes  and  prospects  of  a  world  lying  in  wick- 
edness. He  is  to  maintain  a  stern  and  solemn  re- 
monstrance against  all  the  selfishness,  obliquities  and 
wrong-doing  of  wicked  men!  His  office  must  be 
made  a  standing  reproach,  a  standing  memento  to 
them  in  Ihe'ir  criminal  career.  And  he  must  array 
before  them  the  terrors  of  an  eternal  hell  as  the 
portion  of  their  cup,  who  remain  incorrigibly  im- 
penitent in  the  government  of  God.  This  he  must 
do  single-handed  against  the  great  ungodly  com- 
munity— the  one  against  the  million — protected  by 
no  state  establishment — defended  by  no  superstitious 
sacredness  attached  to  his  person,  no  ghostly  power 
nor  pontifical  prerogative!  If  he  is  faithful  and  fear- 
less, in  this  department  of  his  duty,  and  fastens  the 
rebukes  of  God's  truth  on  the  guilty  consciences  of 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  101 

men,  he  will  have  to  "  fight  "  with  them  "  after  the 
manner  of  beasts,"  as  did  Paul  at  Ephesus.  He  will 
rouse,  exasperate  and  combine  their  malignity  against 
him,  and  encounter  from  them  a  hostility,  that  will 
make  war  upon  him  to  the  knife.  Wicked  men 
have  always  shown,  that  they  have  felt  a  holy,  faith- 
ful ministry  to  be  the  great  obstacle  to  carnal  security 
and  false  peace  in  their  criminal  pursuits.  And 
whatever  repressing  influence  public  sentiment  may 
have  on  the  outward  expressions  of  their  feeling,  in 
heart  they  regard  such  a  ministry  with  unmitigated 
hate,  and  will  visit  its  incumbent  with  every  form 
of  enmity,  persecution,  annoyance  and  indignity 
which  civil  law  and  popular  opinion  will  permit.  It 
is  vain  for  us,  when  imbosomed  in  the  affections  and 
respect  of  our  limited  pastoral  charges,  to  forget  this 
fact,  and  feel  as  though  our  office  secured  to  us  the 
undissenting  homage  and  kindly  regards  of  the 
world.  Young  ministers,  especially,  are  prone  to 
fall  into  this  error,  till  bitter  experience  corrects  it. 
Mortifying  to  our  vanity  as  it  may  be,  it  is  still  true, 
the  great,  overwhelming  majority  of  the  world,  in 
heart,  hate  us  cordially /or  our  office  sake:  and  we  owe 
our  personal  safety,  and  the  negative  respect  of  not 
being  molested,  more  to  the  restraints  of  civil  law 
and  of  public  sentiment,  than  to  the  intrinsic  favour 
with  which  the  wicked  regard  us.  The  ministry  is 
a  thankless  contemned  office;  its  incumbent  regarded 
by  the  world  as  a  kind  of  professional  pauper,  sus- 
tained by  the  stinted  and  grudged  charities  of  reli- 
gionists; and,  in  fact,  he  is  often  more  meanly  paid 
than  the  drivelling  demagogue,  who  gets  his  petty 
appointment  to  gauge  rum  or  inspect  tobacco,  by 
9" 


102  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 

the  political  favouritism  of  a  corrupt  executive. 
Now  llie  nian  who  bears  the  holy  office,  and  faith- 
fully applies  its  tremendous  power  of  rebuke  to  the 
conscience  of  an  ungodly  world,  will  need  more  than 
Spartan  valour  to  sustain  him  under  the  obloquy,  hate, 
and  exasperated  revenge  which  the  world  will  roll 
back  upon  him  from  its  chafed  and  galled  multitudes! 
He  needs  a  moral  courage  with  which  God  alone 
can  inspire  him. 

II.  The  great  revolutions  in  mind,  and  the 
changes  in  character  to  he  aimed  at  by  his  agency, 
require  of  the  minister  a  high  moral  courage. 

Men  who  contemplate  promoting  social  or  politi- 
cal revolutions,  or  great  changes  in  the  temporal 
condition  of  our  race,  need  a  stern,  unblenching 
courage.  But  what  are  these  compared  with  the 
revolution  of  Tnind  and  the  changes  of  moral  cha- 
racter contemplated  b}^  the  instrumentality  of  the 
minister?  To  grapple  with  an  immortal  mind  in  its 
fortified  enmity  and  resistance  to  God — to  beard  the 
lion  of  native  depravity  in  his  lair — to  do  battle  with 
the  strong  man  armed  in  his  palace — to  encounter  all 
the  lawless  passions  of  a  revolted  soul — its  long 
cherished,  gigantic  habits  of  doing  evil — its  unbri- 
dled appetites  in  their  sinful  and  insatiable  cravings 
— to  sever  the  ties  that  bind  it  to  its  guilty  course — 
to  break  the  meshes  in  which  the  confederacy  and 
companionship  of  the  wicked,  the  temptations  and 
allurements  of  the  world  have  entangled  it — to  slay 
its  enmity — subdue  its  rebellion  —  bring  it  from 
darkness  to  light — from  the  power  of  Satan  unto 
God,  humbled,  reconciled,  penitent,  submissive, 
believing,   loving,   adoring— to    change    the    whole 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  103 

moral  relations  of  that  soul  to  God  and  the  universe 
— its  entire  hopes  for  time  and  eternity  is  probably 
the  greatest  revolution  in  mind  that  occurs  any 
where  in  the  dominions  of  God.  Yet  this  is  the 
work  at  which  the  agency  of  the  minister  aims.  0  ! 
with  what  manner  of  courage  ought  he  to  be  armed, 
when  single-handed  he  enters  the  lists  against  such 
fearful  spiritual  odds,  and  agonizes  for  the  eternal 
prize  of  salvation  to  a  soul !  !  The  changes,  too,  in 
moral  character,  to  which  his  instrumentality  is  di- 
rected, are  very  great.  To  aim  at  the  entire  trans- 
formation of  a  being  once  totally  depraved — to  raise 
a  soul  from  the  pit  of  corruption  to  the  purity  of  a 
child  of  God  and  an  heir  of  heaven — from  the  deep 
darkness  of  the  apostacy  to  make  it  shine  as  a  light 
in  the  world,  in  defiance  of  the  opposing  forces  of 
its  own  remaining  depravity,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
masses  of  moral  polhjtion  by  which  it  is  surrounded, 
and  the  multiplied  wiles  of  the  devil  wielded  against 
it, — to  attempt  to  form  a  moral  character  on  the  very 
model  of  Jesus  Christ's — to  have  it  animated  by  the 
same  mind  and  displaying  the  same  graces  that  cha- 
racterized and  adorned  him — and  to  have  it  advance, 
grow,  and  increase  to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  a 
perfect  man  in  Christ  Jesus — till  it  attains  the  purity 
that  fits  it  for  a  holy  and  eternal  heaven,  is  a  work 
that  might  task  an  angel's  instrumentality  and  try 
his  immortal  courage!  ! 

II L  To  prosecute  those  grand  enteyyrises  of 
benevolence  ivitli  ivhich  his  office  and  influence 
are  connected,  will  require  of  the  minister  no  ordi- 
nary moral  courage.  In  prosecuting  any  enterprise 
we  need  a  courage  proportioned   to   the  obstacles  to 


104  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 

be  encountered,  and  to  the  magnitude  of  the  results 
contemplated.  Now  in  the  great  enterprises  with 
which  the  office  and  influence  of  the  minister  are 
connected,  the  obstacles  to  be  encountered  are  the 
organized  and  aggregated  opposition  of  two  apostate 
worlds,  earth  and  hell!  The  result  contemplated, 
the  subjugation  of  this  world  to  the  rule  of  Messiah. 
This,  perhaps,  is  the  most  stupendous  enterprise  now 
going  on  in  the  vast  empire  of  God !  The  moral  recla- 
mation— the  spiritual  regeneration  and  redemption  of 
the  whole  world  ! !  What  a  tremendous  instrumenta- 
lity must  be  exerted  for  its  accomplishment!  Think  of 
the  mighty  details  included  in  such  an  achievement! 
All  the  ignorance  of  God  and  of  duty — all  the  errors 
and  prejudices,  the  superstitions  and  idolatries  under 
which  earth  groans  are  to  be  removed  by  the  Divine 
blessing  on  human  agency.  All  the  intrenched  enmity 
and  unbelief  of  the  world  are  to  have  their  strong- 
holds pulled  down^ — the  battle  axe  is  to  ring  on  the 
pillars  of  the  throne  of  the  god  of  this  world,  till 
they  crumble  beneath  its  heavy  blows,  and  the  whole 
earth  is  subdued  and  brought  into  the  obedience  of 
the  faith — all  the  intemperance  and  lust,  the  war  and 
rapine,  the  oppression  and  tyrann}^,  the  murder  and 
theft,  the  treachery,  and  deceit,  and  civil  discords, 
that  curse  the  globe,  are  to  be  removed  from  bleed- 
ing, groaning,  humanity. 

All  that  mighty  aggregation  of  miseries,  tem- 
poral and  spiritual,  which  the  great  moral  overthrow 
in  Eden  has  brought  upon  our  race,  is  to  be  relieved 
by  the  untiring  assiduities  of  sanctified,  human  bene- 
volence. All  the  discordant  and  conflicting  elements 
of  the  whole  society  of  earth  are  yet  to  be  harmo- 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  105 

nized — the  distinctions  of  climate  and  caste, —  of  na- 
tional and  local  prejudices — of  varying  pursuits  and 
habits — of  different  forms  of  government,  of  clashing 
schemes  of  philosophy  and  religion,  and  ten  thousand 
nameless  diversities  that  mark  all  kindreds,  and 
tongues,  and  people  under  heaven,  are  to  be  so  far 
merged  as  to  leave  no  barrier  in  the  way  of  uniting 
'^  Parthians,  and  Medes,  and  Elamites,  and  the  dwell- 
ers in  Mesopotamia,  and  in  Judea,  and  Cappadocia,  in 
Pontus  and  Asia,  Phrygia  and  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt, 
in  Lybia,  and  the  strangers  at  Rome,  Jews  and  pro- 
sel^^tes,  Cretes  and  Arabians,'^  in  one  harmonious 
kingdom  under  the  reign  of  the  great  Prince  of  peace. 
In  a  word,  the  grand  enterprise  of  preparing  the  way 
of  the  Lord  for  the  millennium  is  yet  to  be  executed. 
The  mountains  are  to  be  made  low,  and  the  valleys 
exalted — every  obstruction  to  the  chariot  wheels  of 
the  Redeemer,  over  the  whole  extent  of  earth,  is  to 
be  taken  out  of  the  way.  The  sacred  oracles  are  to 
be  translated  into  every  tongue,  and  spread  till  they 
shall  have  visited  the  home  of  every  human  being — 
the  institutions  of  Christianity  to  be  established  in 
every  land — the  great  mass  of  mind,  the  world  over, 
to  be  emancipated  from  the  curse,  and  man  restored 
to  the  long  lost  peace  of  heaven,  is  to  take  up  the  an- 
gel song  of  the  nativity,  and — 

"The  dwellers  in  tlie  vales  and  on  the  rocks 
Shout  to  each  other;  and  the  mountain  tops, 
From  distant  mountains  catch  the  flying  joy, 
Till  nation  after  nation,  taught  the  strain, 
Earth  rolls  the  rapturous  hosannah  round." 

Such,  brethren,  is  the  august  enterprise  with  which 
God  has  joined  our  instrumentality,  and,  to  the  ac- 


106  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 

complishment  of  which  that  instrumentality  is  indis- 
pensable. "  As  an  adamant,  harder  than  flint/'  must 
be  his  forehead,  who  can  face  unfaltering;  its  mighty 
obstacles,  and  live,  and  labour,  and  hope  on  untiring, 
amidst  the  delays  and  discouragements,  that  lie  in  the 
way  of  its  final  execution ! ! 

IV.  There  are  certain  mal-tende>^cies  or  ul- 
TRAisMS  of  this  age,  to  combat  which,  will  require 
a  high  degree  of  moral  courage  in  the  minister. 
In  our  day  the  turbulent  spirit  of  radicalism  and  in- 
novation has  taken  the  course  of  carrying  things  law- 
ful and  right  in  themselves  to  extremes,  rather  than 
that  of  a  direct  and  revolutionary  attack  upon  them. 
The  insidious  ingenuity  and  speciousness  of  this 
course  is  apparent.  Philanthropists  and  sober  po- 
litical philosophers  have  in  this  era  of  intellectual  ex- 
citement and  active  benevolence  been  honestly  stu- 
dying the  science  of  human  government,  and  the 
philosophy  of  society  with  the  hope  of  a  farther  ame- 
lioration of  man's  physical  condition,  and  an  increase 
of  his  social  comforts  and  happiness.  Now  inno- 
vators and  reckless  radicals  have  taken  advantage  of 
this  popular  movement,  and  carried  it  out  to  the 
"  ultima  thule"  of  Owenism,  Fourierism,  Brisbanism, 
till  an  infidel,  atheistic,  anarchical  agrarianism  is 
urged  upon  us  under  the  specious  pretext  of  philan- 
thropic sympathy  for  the  great  mass  of  the  labouring 
community,  and  of  an  improved  state  of  society. 
It  takes  its  starting  point  from  the  salutary  advance- 
ment and  real  benevolence  of  the  age,  and  attempts 
to  persuade  the  w^orld  that  it  is  still  under  their 
banners,  when  its  own  gloomy  flag  without  "stripes 
or  stars"  is  waving  over  the  verge  of  social  and  po- 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  107 

litical  chaos,  and  flaj3ping  in  the  storm  of  up-rooting, 
levelling  revolution. 

A^ain,  the  liberalizing  spirit  of  protestant  Christi- 
anity, and  of  republican  government,  very  naturally 
gave  birth  to  the  freedom  of  the  press.  The  untram- 
melled expression  of  opinion  on  every  subject  in 
which  society  has  an  interest,  while  that  expression 
is  within  the  limits  of  truth,  candour,  and  justice,  is 
one  of  the  choicest  temporal  blessings  of  modern  ci- 
vilization. It  is  a  prerogative  of  freemen,  which 
they  prize  above  all  price.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
public  appreciation  of  this  blessing,  and  of  the  jea- 
lousy felt  towards  every  thing  that  looked  like  an  in- 
vasion of  this  right,  a  set  of  miscreant  scribblers, 
whose  only  hope  of  a  livelihood  was  founded  on 
fanning  the  vulgar  prejudice,  and  inflaming  the  pas- 
sions of  the  worst  classes  of  society,  have  carried  the 
freedom  of  the  press  to  the  extreme  of  an  appalling 
licentiousness ;  so  that  now  not  only  is  the  cha- 
racter of  our  purest  patriots  thrown  by  a  hireling, 
lying,  political  press  to  the  dogs  and  the  vultures  of 
the  community,  to  be  devoured  by  them,  but  the 
sanctity  of  private  life  is  invaded,  and  the  events  of 
domestic  history  emblazoned  in  capitals  to  catch  the 
eyes  of  tlie  rabble.  There  is  a  profligate  spawn  of 
penny  and  other  ephemeral  sheets  hawked  upon  the 
wings  of  every  hour,  circulated  widely,  and,  like  pa- 
rasitic vermin,  live  by  feeding  on  the  festering  vices 
of  society,  thus  rendering  them  more  foull)^  sore. 

All  this  is  pleaded  as  the  glorious  freedom  of  the 
press;  and  he  who  would  combat  it,  and  strive  to 
roll  back  the  tide  of  vice  and  crime  which  it  has 
raised,  must  expect  to  encounter  the  odium  of  being 


108  THE  TRUE    FOUNDATION 

regarded  as  an  enemy  to  free  discussion,  and  to  the 
liberty  of  opinion. 

Again,  the  principles  of  a  rational,  civil,  and  poli- 
tical liberty  and  the  great  doctrine  of  the  essential 
equality  of  rights  amongst  men  have  been  gaining  a 
deeper  hold  on  the  minds  of  civilized  nations,  and 
modifying  less  or  more  most  of  their  governments 
for  two  centuries  past.  Liberty  and  equality  have 
become  charm  words  to  modern  society,  and  the 
THINGS  which  they  indicate  commend  themselves  to 
man's  natural  and  instinctive  sense  of  justice. 

Now  a  fanatical  and  pseudo-pliilanthropy  taking 
advantage  of  this,  and  seeming  to  overlook  the  fact 
that  an  immediate  application  of  the  principles  of 
liberty  and  equality  to  ever}^  class  of  human  beings 
may  be  impracticable,  has  been  guilty  of  the  gross 
ultraism  of  defining  its  own  method  of  their  appli- 
cation, and  insisting  that  these  principles  shall  be  so 
applied,  ihougli  it  be  at  tlie  cost  of  a  breach  of  go- 
vermental  covenant,  the  dissolution  of  tiie  union, 
the  abolition  of  the  Christian  scriptures,  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath,  the  Christian  ministry  and  the 
Christian  church.  Though  founding  its  claims  upon 
the  love  of  liberty  and  equality,  and  clamorous  in 
professions  of  the  purest  desires  for  human  happiness, 
can  any  sane  man  mistake  a  blasphemiOus  radicalism 
like  this  for  the  benevolence  of  the  gospel,  or  even 
the  philanthropy  of  civilization?*  Yetthe  minister 
who  opposes  tliese  self-constituted  guardians  of  hu- 

*  These  remarks  are  by  no  moans  meant  as  a  sweeping  and  indis- 
criminate condemnation  on  a  multitude  of  men  who  are  termed  anti- 
slavery.  Their  application  is  confined  exclusively  to  those  whose  pe- 
culiar doctrines  are  here  indicated. 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  109 

man  rights, dissents  from  their  measures,  and  disputes 
their  arrogant  claims  as  tlie  exclusive  friend  of  the 
slave,  will  need  more  tlian  the  patience  of  Job  under 
the  volley  of  vituperation  with  which  he  will  be  as- 
sailed, and  the  moral  courage  of  a  martyr,  to  stand 
the  ''^ fiery  trial^^  of  that  fierce  and  unrelenting  op- 
position and  hatred  which  he  will  Jiave  to  encounter. 

Farther,  an  enlightened  humanity  for  the  last  half 
century  has  been  very  active  in  banisliing  from  so- 
ciety those  relics  of  barbarism  and  cruelty  that  have 
descended  from  a  darker  preceding  age. 

It  has  done  much  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
prisons,  and  to  mitigate  the  unrighteous  severities  of 
criminal  laws.  It  is  one  of  the  benign  influences 
of  the  gospel,  hailed  and  cherished  by  all  those  who 
have  imbibed  the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ. 
Now  a  class  of  sickly  sentimentalists  have  arisen, 
who  have  pressed  this  enlightened  humanity  to  such 
a  pitch  of  ultraism,  that  they  cry  out  against  the 
penalty  of  death  for  the  crime  of  murder,  and  sur- 
round and  shield  its  malicious  and  blood-guilty  per- 
petrator with  their  profoundest  sympathy.  Petitions 
to  the  legislatures  for  the  abolition  of  capital  punish- 
ment, essays  in  political  papers,  and  orations  in  po- 
pular assemblies  are  employed  to  overawe  the  mi- 
nister who  dares  to  expound  the  will  of  God  on  this 
subject,  and  to  declare  in  the  very  words  of  inspira- 
tion that  "  the  murderer  shall  surely  be  put  to  death." 

The  time  would  fail  me  to  speak  of  the  numerous 
mal-political  tendencies  or  ultraisms  of  our  day, 
which  deserve  and  demand  faithful  rebukp  from  the 
minister  of  the  gospel.  All  our  marked  political 
tendencies  of  Inte  have  been  bad  and  growing;  worse 
10 


110  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 

from  year  to  year.  They  have  generated  gigantic 
national  and  political  crimes,  and  are  fast  hurrying  us 
*' farther  and  farther  from  that  lofty  purity  and  those 
incorruptible  principles  which  imparted  their  dignity 
to  our  institutions  in  earlier  times."  Let  any  mi- 
nister attempt  to  bring  the  faithful  rebukes  of  God 
upon  this  political  wickedness  in  high  places,  and 
see  whether  his  moral  courage  will  not  be  put  to  a 
fiery  ordeal. 

I  say  nothing  of  ultraism  under  the  name  of  reform 
in  the  church  ; — in  some  respects  the  worst  of  all 
ultraisms,  because  for  its  oppressions  and  wrongs, 
its  excommunications  and  anathemas,  it  pleads  con- 
science before  God,  and  covers  its  head  in  the  day 
of  battle  and  of  stormy  revolution  with  the  great 
JEgis  of  professed  love  for  the  purity  and  prosperity 
of  Zion,  and  of  zeal  for  the  defence  of  "  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints." 

Now  let  any  ministerof  the  gospel  withstand  to  the 
face  all  these  ultraisms  of  the  day — let  him  encounter 
the  charge  of  being  an  enemy  to  the  improvement  of 
the  race,  wishing  to  keepsociety  in  the  cast  iron  mould 
of  past  and  dark  ages — of  wishing  to  muzzle  the  press, 
and  stifle  free  inquiry — of  wishing  to  rivet  the  chains 
on  the  down-trodden  slave — of  wishing  to  sustain 
a  barbarous  and  bloody  code  of  criminal  laws — of 
being  2i^' party  politicians^  for  rebuking  political 
crime,  and  a  heretic  and  ecclesiastical  radical  for  dis- 
senting from  schismatic  and  revolutionary  measures 
in  the  church.  Let  him  know  that  the  price  of  his 
fidelity  is  to  be  paid  him  in  an  overwhelming  odium 
like  this  from  church  and  state,  and  the  minister  who 
can  still  obev  his  God.  and  do  his  dutv  in  these  cir- 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  Ill 

cumstances  will  need  all  the  indomitable  moral 
courage  with  which  his  high  consciousness  of  right 
and  his  holy  confidence  in  Jehovah  can  inspire 
him  ! 

V.  Lastly.  To  act  well  our  part  in  the  great 
struggle  now  going  on  between  the  religion  of  ce- 
remony and  spiritual  despotism  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  religion  of  the  heart,  toleration  and  spi- 
ritual freedom  on  the  other,  will  require  high  mo- 
ral courage  in  the  ministry. 

A  histor}^  of  the  moral  conflicts  that  have  been 
waged  in  our  world,  would  be  infinitely  more  inte- 
resting than  the  chronicles  of  all  the  military  move- 
ments and  mighty  battles  of  earth's  warriors.  Pre- 
viously to  the  advent  of  the  Saviour,  there  was  a 
great  overgrown  system  of  idolatry,  (which  is  the  re- 
ligion of  ceremony,  in  its  essence  and  purity.)  This 
system, interwoven  with  pagan  governments,and  used 
as  a  machine  of  state,  had  for  ages  made  war  upon 
and  succeeded  in  corrupting  the  ancient  true  religion. 
The  Christianity  of  the  New  Testament,  on  its  first 
promulgation,  and  in  its  pristine  simplicity  and  spirit- 
ual power,  overthrew  this  gigantic  system,  and  raised 
its  own  unostentatious  altar,  and  performed  its  simple 
rites  in  the  palace  of  the  Coesars.  Now  the  thing 
which  destroyed  this  first  grand  victory  of  spiritual 
Christianity  and  religious  liberty  was  the  Ai§-AcAw7'C^, 
or  spiritual  despotism  principle.  This  rose  and 
ascended  higher  and  higher  as  an  orb  of  ill-omen, 
till  it  culminated  in  a  popedom,  all  grasping  of  uni- 
versal, temporal  and  spiritual  authority — of  human 
and  divine  prerogative.  The  overthrow  of  this,  is 
to  constitute  the  last  grand   triumph  of  Christianity, 


112  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 

brought  back  to  its  apostolic  simplicity,  purity  and 
spirituality!  The  first  onset  was  made,  and  battle 
joined  with  this  fearful  power  in  the  time  of  the 
ever  glorious  reformation.  But  it  has  been  the  dis- 
astrous mistake  of  Protestant  Christendom,  to  take 
it  for  granted  that  the  victory  was  completed  then, 
and  the  great  war  of  these  antagonist  jyrinciples 
ended.  For  two  centuries  has  the  church  rested  on 
the  almost  unquestioned  assumption,  that  the  rights 
of  conscience,  religious  toleration  and  spiritual  free- 
dom, were  established  on  an  immovable  basis,  and 
destined  to  an  undisputed,  unchecked  and  irreversi- 
ble advancement!  But  he  who  thinks  so  now,  is  a 
partial  observer  of  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  a  super- 
ficial student  in  the  philosophy  of  depraved  human 
nature.  Taking  the  world  as  it  is,  and  the  advance- 
ment of  these  great  principles  will  follow  the  analogy 
of  that  law  in  hydrostatics,  which  governs  the  break- 
ers of  the  ocean,  as  they  thunder  along  the  beach. 
The  impulse  that  raises  them,  and  the  very  force 
with  which  they  break  on  the  ascending  shore,  create 
a  regurgitation,  a  receding  current,  that  carries  them 
back  towards  the  quiet  deeps  from  which  the  wind 
aroused  them.  The  antagonism  to  these  glorious  prin- 
ciples lies  in  the  great  deeps  of  human  depravity,  and 
like  those  ofthe  ocean, the  storm  has  to  rage  on  the  sur- 
face some  time,  before  they  are  agitated  so  as  to  pro- 
duce those  counter,  under  currents,  that  bring  on  the 
great  ebb  of  reaction.  It  would  seem  to  be  our  al- 
lotment, in  the  providence  of  God,  to  live  and  sustain 
the  holy  oiBBce  in  the  very  crisis  of  the  commencing 
reaction  of  the  great  impulse  of  the  Reformation. 
The  love  of  a  gorgeous  church  ritual,  that  charms 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  113 

the  senses,  and  fascinates  the  imagination — the  love 
of  a  religion  of  ceremony  that  promises  heaven  on 
the  easiest  conditions — the  love  of  ecclesiastical  pow- 
er and  supremacy — the  ghostly  ambition  of  titles 
and  mitres,  and  all  the  trappings  of  spiritual  despo- 
tism, is  not  yet  dead  in  the  hearts  of  unconverted 
men.  These  baleful  elements  that  lie  deep  in 
fallen  human  nature,  have  become  roused  of  late,  by 
the  strides  both  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  by 
the  unwonted  zeal  and  activity  of  a  portion  of  the 
church,  to  propagate  and  establish  a  pure,  spirilual 
Christianity.  Forthe  last  ten  or  fifteen  years  we  have 
heard  their  notes  of  preparation  and  witnessed  their 
prelusive  movements  in  the  peculiar  character  of  the 
controversies  waged  so  warmly  in  the  church.  It  re- 
quires  but  a  partial  analysis  of  the  real  object  of  the 
violent  disputes  which  have  recently  agitated  most  of 
the  religious  denominations,  to  ascertain  that  it  is,  in 
fact,  however  men  may  persuade  themselves  to  the 
contrary,  a  struggle  for  the  ascendency  of  that  which 
in  its  essence  (whatever  may  be  its  form)  constitutes 
the  high  church  principle.  The  tocsin  that  has  been 
sounded  is  a  blended  and  harmonious  peal,  from  the 
Vatican  at  Rome  and  Oxford  in  England!  "The 
man  of  sin"  is  in  the  field  in  full  panoply,  and  in  a 
more  determined  attitude  of  war  than  at  any  time 
since  the  reformation  in  the  days  of  Luther.  All 
the  elements  of  the  religion  of  ceremony  and  of 
spiritual  despotism,  that  lie  scattered  over  Christen- 
dom and  the  world,  seem  to  feel  his  magic  attraction. 
They  have  marshalled  themselves,  made  common 
cause  with  him,  and  are  ready  at  this  moment  to 
do  battle  in  the  agony  and  desperation  of  their  last 
10* 


114  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 

struggle  against  the  religion  of  the  heart,  toleration 
and  spiritual  freedom.  And  if  racks  and  gibbets, 
stakes,  fire  and  fagot  do  not  figure  so  largely  in  the 
present  as  in  former  conflicts  of  this  kind,  let  it  not 
be  supposed  that  the  present,  on  this  account,  will 
be  the  less  severe!  The  advancement  of  society- 
has  invented  the  weapons  of  a  more  refined  and 
deadly  execution  in  moral  combat,  as  well  as  in  the 
art  of  modern  warfare.  And  this  dread  principle 
of  high-churchism  or  spiritual  despotism  will  not  be 
slow  in  availing  itself  of  the  burnished  steel  and 
finely  tempered  blade  that  will  ^'  wind  to  the  heart 
of  its  antagonist  keener  edged  with  deeper  ill," 
than  the  more  blunt  and  cumbrous  weapons  of  the 
great  Reformation.  We  have  hitherto  flattered  our- 
selves that  this  monstrous  principle  could  not  stand 
erect,  much  less  fight  successfully  in  the  midst  of  the 
liberal  and  republican  tendencies  of  our  age  and 
country.  But  recent  events  in  the  history  of  eccle- 
siastical conventions  and  the  recent  revival  and  prac- 
tice of  obsolete  and  superstitious  rites,  once  the  ac- 
credited auxiliaries  of  spiritual  despotism,  have  am- 
ply corrected  this  easy  assumption. 

The  religion  of  ceremony  and  spiritual  despotism 
will  rally  a  more  numerous  phalanx  in  this  republi- 
can country  than  we  have  ever  hitherto  suspected. 
It  will  imbody  a  great  portion  of  the  wealth,  and 
take  all  that  class  of  the  aristocracy  who  wish  to  go 
"  through  the  gates  of  Lord  Mammon's  lodge  with 
the  drums  and  trumpets  of  worldly  pride,  and  to 
march  magnificently  on  with  all  the  glittering  appa- 
ratus of  gold  and  power"  to  a  heaven  secured  to 
them  by  ceremonies.     This  high  church   principle 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  115 

will  claim  and  boast  the  elite  of  society  as  its  friends 
and  allies.  It  will  strive  to  identify  itself  with  the 
intelligence,  gentility  and  refinements  of  the  age. 
It  will  associate  itself  with  the  fine  arts  and  polite 
literature,  and  thus  present  to  all  the  gay,  pleasure- 
loving,  cultivated,  poetic,  romantic  portion  of  the 
community  a  religion  of  taste,  to  be  enjoyed  in  splen- 
did cathedrals  with  massive  pillars,  "long  drawn 
aisles,'*  and  domes  of  fretted  gold, — with  gorgeous 
altars  and  holy  tapers — with  the  peal  of  deep-toned 
bells,  the  rich  harmonies  of  an  exquisite  orchestra, 
volumes  of  sweet  incense — imperial,  priestly  robes, 
glittering  tapestry,  gilded  crosses  and  all  the  array 
of  imposing  tinsel  that  delights  a  depraved  imagi- 
nation, and  is  substituted  for  "  holiness  to  the  Lord." 
It  will  gain  a  vast  body  of  recruits,  too,  from  those 
who  have  hitherto  been  wholly  indifferent  to  all  un- 
ostentatious religion  which  retained  the  simplicity 
and  spirituality  of  the  New  Testament.  And  when 
once  enlisted  no  class  will  fight  for  it  with  a  more 
fierce  and  furious  bigotry  than  these.  And  besides 
all  these  classes  it  will  hold  in  its  train  that  host  of 
timid  and  irresolute  conservatives  who  would  rather 
*'  endure  the  ills  that  are,  than  fly  to  those  they  know 
not  of."  Now  with  numbers  and  resources  like  these 
— claiming  exclusive  apostolic  authority  and  succes- 
sion, unchurching  all  others,  and  modestly  giving  them 
over  to  the  "  uncovenanted  mercies  of  God,'' — charging 
them  with  the  guilt  of  all  the  schisms  and  sects  that 
divide  Christendom — holding  them  responsible  for 
all  the  innovations,  heresies,  disorders,  and  ecclesias- 
tical radicalism  of  the  times,  the  religion  of  ceremony 
will  make  the  attack  aided  by  the  tremendous  in- 


116  THE  TRUE  FOUNDATION 

spirations  and  the  allied  powers  of  him  who,  accord- 
ing to  Milton,  occupies  more  than  an  archbishop's 
place  in  Pandemonium,  and  whose  ambition  chose  to 
"reign  in  hell  rather  than  serve  in  heaven!"  Will 
it  not  require  the  loftiest  darings  of  moral  courage  to 
enter  the  lists  against  such  a  foe  in  behalf  of  that  re- 
ligion of  the  heart,  that  toleration  and  spiritual  free- 
dom, which  have  their  foundation  only  in  enlight- 
ened, regenerated  human  nature? 

The  mighty  antagonism  of  these  principles  pro- 
duces a  concussion  that  is  felt  in  heaven  and  reaches 
down  to  hell!!  We  are  now,  perhaps,  to  witness 
their  last,  grand  conflict — not  as  uninterested  specta- 
tors. We  are  to  take  our  respective  parts  in  the 
throes  and  agonies  of  this  stupendous  struggle,  and 
to  meet  its  vast  issues  in  this  world  and  the  world 
to  come!!  We  must  look  to  God  to  make  our  "  fore- 
heads as  an  adamant,  harder  than  flint,"  to  face  un- 
daunted such  a  foe!  And,  girding  ourselves  with 
his  strength,  and  intrenching  ourselves  in  his  eternal 
truth,  we  must  do  battle  without  fainting,  till  the  re- 
ligion of  the  heart,  toleration,  and  spiritual  freedom 
shall  triumph,  and  shout  their  final  victory  in  our 
world. 

My  dear  brethren  in  the  ministry,  I  leave  the 
practical  application  of  these  remarks  to  yourselves. 
Many  of  you  are  more  competent  than  I  to  make 
such  application,  and  to  discover  the  practical  bear- 
ings and  momentous  relations  of  the  truths  now  pre- 
sented. God  has  brought  us  upon  the  stage,  and 
clothed  us  with  the  holy  office,  in  the  very  crisis  of 
the  revived  combat  and  career  of  those  great  op- 
posing principles  that  struggle  for  permanent  ascen- 


OF  MORAL  COURAGE.  117 

dency  over  all  that  is  most  valuable  in  man's  immor- 
tal nature.  For  us,  for  our  altars,  for  our  children 
and  our  country,  owr.s  is  a  "calamitous  distinction! 
but  a  sublime  one,"  if  fired  with  a  divine  courage, 
and  clothed  with  the  whole  armour  of  God,  and  glow- 
ing with  zeal  for  his  glory,  we  enter  the  lists,  act 
well  our  part, — resist  the  mighty  foe,  even  unto 
blood,  "and  having  done  all  to  stand,"  approved  of 
God,  conscience,  our  country  and  the  world,  as 
having  heroically  done  our  duty  in  the  last  desperate 
agonies  of  the  conflict,  and  contributed  to  the  final 
triumph  of  the  cross  over  the  sullied  crowns  and 
broken  sceptres  of  a  for  ever  vanquished,  routed  spi- 
ritual despotism. 


118  THE  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER  IN 


SERMON    VI. 


THE  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER'S  CONDUCT  IN 
MAKING  LIGHT  OF  THE  INVITATIONS  OF  THE 
GOSPEL. 

"Bui  they  made  light  of  it." — Matt.  xxii.  5. 

Such  is  the  brief  but  graphic  history,  which  the 
Son  of  God  gives  of  the  treatment  which  the  invita- 
tions of  the  gospel  meet  with  from  sinners.  In  the 
parable  of  the  marriage  of  the  king's  son,  of  which 
our  text  forms  a  part,  the  provisions  of  the  plan  of 
salvation  are  aptly  set  forth,  as  also  the  feelings  of 
the  great  God  in  the  invitations  of  mercy.  The  pre- 
parations are  ample  and  splendid,  befitting  the  style 
of  ro3^alty.  The  invitation  sent  to  the  guests  is  cha- 
racterized by  the  mingled  feelings  of  majesty,  autho- 
rity, parental  affection,  and  sensitiveness  for  the 
honour  of  a  beloved  Son.  On  the  part  of  those  in- 
vited, ought  to  have  been  gratitude  for  tlie  distin- 
guished favour  thus  conferred, — respect,  and  venera- 
tion for  the  royal  authority, — tender  regard  for  pa- 
rental feeling,  and  a  prompt  compliance  as  an  evi- 
dence of  their  loyalty,  and  of  their  appreciation  of 
regal  favour.     But,  instead  of  all  this,  so  natural,  and 


MAKING  LIGHT  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  119 

befitting  the  occasion,  "they  made  light  of  it!" 
Now  were  the  facts  in  this  parable  literally  to  occur 
at  present,  it  would  excite  great  surprise  and  indig- 
nation, not  merely  in  the  king  himself,  but  in  the 
community  generally.  Rut  the  great  "  King  eter- 
nal, immortal,  and  invisible,"  has  made  a  spiritual 
marriage  for  his  only-begotten  Son,  and  that,  too,  at 
the  amazing  expense  of  heaven's  best  treasure  and 
blood.  And  he  has  sent  a  solemn,  urgent  invitation  to 
men,  to  come  and  be  honoured  guests,  and  they  make 
light  of  it — they  treat  it  as  they  would  not  dare  treat 
the  invitation  of  a  sinful  fellow  mortal, — and  yet  it 
excites  no  general  surprise,  and  calls  forth  no  indig- 
nant reprobation  from  the  community.  The  text  is 
obviously  designed  to  teach  us,  that  men  disregard 
and  make  light  of  the  invitation  of  the  gospel,  and 
trifle  with  all  the  rich  provisions  and  solemn  asso- 
ciations included  in  it,  though  these  refer  to  the  cha- 
racter and  work  of  Christ,  and  to  the  salvation  of  the 
soul.  I  shall  enter  upon  no  laboured  argumentation 
to  prove  this.  The  every  day  conduct  of  men  who  pos- 
sess the  Bible,  and  enjoy  the  ministrations  of  the  gos- 
pel, is  ample  testimony  to  this  truth.  Impenitent 
sinners  need  no  logic  to  convince  them  that  they  are 
daily  making  light  of  God's  solemn  message  to  them 
respecting  their  salvation.  They  have  the  witness 
in  themselves;  and  I  simply  refer  them  to  their  own 
consciences,  and  am  willing  to  abide  by  their  deci- 
sion. My  only  object  in  this  discourse  will  be,  to 
endeavour  to  help  the  impenitent  to  get  some  just 
conceptions  of  their  conduct,  in  making  light  of  the 
invitations  of  the  gospel.  The  question  which  I  pro- 
pose to  raise  from  this  text,  and  to  answer  if  I  can. 


120  THE  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER  IN 

is  this, — WHAT  do  you  make  light  of  in  trifling  as 
you  do  with  the  provision,  the  invitations,  and 
offers  of  mercy  in  the  gospel? 

I.  You  make  light  of  that  which  relates  specially 

to  your  IMMORTAL  PART tO  yOUT  DEATHLESS  SOUL. 

The  invitations  of  the  gospel  refer  not  merely  to  your 
temporal  interests,  nor  your  physical  enjoyment, 
though  incidentally,  the  gospel,  when  embraced,  se- 
cures even  these.  The  provisions  of  the  gospel,  re- 
presented by  this  marriage  feast,  relate  to  your  im- 
mortal part.  While  God  is  not  unmindful  of  those 
physical  wants  which  you  have  in  common  with  all 
animal  natures,  his  great  scheme  of  mercy  relates 
specially  to  the  wants,  the  desires,  the  capacities  of 
hope  and  of  happiness  in  the  undying  souL  It  is 
your  nobler  jjart  that  is  consulted  in  this  great 
scheme;  that  part  which  gives  to  your  nature  all 
the  solemn  dignity  which  it  has  in  the  scale  of 
being — that  soul  of  yours,  which  bears  the  impress 
— the  very  image  of  its  God!  —  that  mysterious 
spirit,  made  originally  but  a  "little  lower  than  the 
angels,"  and  decreed  to  immortality — that  soul  of 
yours  which  has  begun  an  existence  that  is  to  run 
parallel  with  the  eternal  being  of  God  himself — that 
soul  that  will  survive  the  dissolution  of  all  worlds — 
that  will  out-live  all  the  changes  that  pass  on  the 
material  universe — that  will  lose  no  capacity  amidst 
the  wrecks  and  wastes  of  time,  the  convulsions  of 
dooms-day,  and  the  revolutions  of  immortal  ages — 
YOUR  SOUL,  sinner,  in  all  its  capabilities  of  virtue  or 
of  vice — in  all  its  vast  range  of  powers — in  all  its 
elements  of  growth,  progress,  and  indefinite  attain- 
ment—in all  its  susceptibilities  of  enjoying  or  suffer- 


MAKING  LIGHT  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  121 

ing  the  rewards  or  punishments  which  God's  eternal 
government  will  bestow  or  inflict  on  the  righteous  or 
the  wicked — the  soul — the  lost,  yet  recoverable  soul, 
outweighing  worlds,  and  overmatching  all  the  inte- 
rests of  time  in  its  intrinsic  worth — this  is  the  mighty, 
immortal  nature,  whose  recovery,  happiness,  and  sal- 
vation, are  consulted  in  the  provisions  and  invita- 
tions of  mercy.  In  making  light  of  these,  0  sinner, 
you  trifle  with  what  relates  directly  to  your  own 
deathless  soul,  in  all  the  grand  interests  of  its  immor- 
tality. Make  light  of  the  gravest  things  of  time — 
trifle  with  all  the  mightiest  affairs  of  earth,  that  may 
affect  you  only  in  the  present  life,  and  still  leave  you 
unhurt  for  eternity!  But,  0!  make  not  light  of  that 
which  touches  the  immediate  interests  of  the  soul — 
trifle  not  with  any  thing  that  has  the  dignity,  the  im- 
portance, the  deep  solemnity  of  relating  directly  to 
that  immortal  spirit  of  yours,  which  God  has  breathed 
into  you,  and  which  you  will  so  soon  breathe  out 
again  to  him,  stript  of  its  clay,  to  be  fixed  in  the  re- 
verseless  doom  of  its  eternal  state! 

II.  You  make  light  of  the  most  wonderful  love 
that  the  universe  has  ever  witnessed. 

There  is  something  in  trifling  with  the  sincere  af- 
fections of  others,  the  baseness  of  which  every  one 
can  appreciate,  and  is  ready  to  condemn.  The  human 
heart  feels  no  wound  more  keenly  than  this.  Why 
then  has  it  never  struck  you,  my  impenitent  friend, 
that  in  making  light  of  the  offers  of  salvation,  you 
were  trifling  with  infinite,  eternal  love,  and  impo- 
tently  aiming  to  inflict  a  w^ound  on  the  heart  of  God? 
Are  not  the  provision,  and  the  invitations  of  the  gos- 
pel founded  on  the  most  wonderful,  incomparable 
11 


122  THE  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER  IN 

love  that  the  universe  ever  witnessed  ?  How  shall  I 
attempt  to  describe  the  love  of  God  with  which  you 
trifle,  in  your  rejection  of  the  offers  of  mercy?  All 
that  the  scriptures  can  say  of  it,  is, — "  God  so  loved 
the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  him  might  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life."  You  observe  there  is  nothing 
here  to  make  out  a  complete  comparison.  The  par- 
ticle, "  so  "  would  seem  to  imply  some  correspond- 
ing term  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sentence — but  there 
is  none.  The  Bible  just  refers  to  the  sublime  fact  of 
the  gift  of  God's  Son,  as  the  measure  of  his  love  to 
the  world.  And  this  is  a  measure  utterly  incompre- 
hensible by  finite  minds.  How  angels,  cherubim, 
seraphim,  thrones,  principalities,  and  powers  in  hea- 
ven, tax  their  capacities  to  comprehend  the  de- 
grees of  this  measure  of  the  love  of  God  to  man ! 
They  think  of  that  adorable  person  of  the  Trinity, 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  whom  they  have  loved, 
and  worshipped  as  God  equal  with  the  Father — they 
think  of  the  glory  that  he  had  before  the  world  was 
— the  splendours  of  his  eternal  Godhead — and  then  in 
amazement,  they  behold  him  freely  given  up  by  the 
Father,  as  the  expression  and  measure  of  his  love 
to  the  world  !  Ah  !  this  is  mainly  what  "  the  angels 
desire  to  look  into."  If  we  may  judge  of  love 
by  the  sacrifices  it  will  make,  (and  this  is  the  true 
criterion)  how  imagination  itself,  in  its  most  daring 
and  vast  conceptions,  is  over-matched,  lost,  and  sinks 
down  in  despair,  as  we  think  of  the  costly  sacrifice 
which  expresses  the  measure  of  God's  love  to  man! 
And  to  enhance  this  wonderful  love,  God  commend- 
eth  it  to  us,  in  'Uhat  while  we  were  yet  sinners. 
Christ  died  for  us.'- 


MAKING  LIGHT  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  123 

"  O  for  such  love,  let  rocks  and  hills, 
Their  lasting  sUence  break!" 

And  what  if  universal  nature  were  personified,  and 
had  a  voice  loud  as  seven  thunders,  and  sweet  as  the 
music  of  the  spheres,  and  the  heavens  over  us  were  one 
vast  speaking  trumpet,  and  earth,  and  air,  and  ocean, 
fitted  to  send  back  echoes,  as  strains  from  celestial 
worlds,  could  all  the  eternal  love  ofGod  to  man,  then, be 
spoken  out  to  the  universe?  No!!  It  will  be  eternally 
telling  in  heaven's  language  of  song,  yet  never  all 
told!!!  0!  dying  sinner,  this,  this  is  the  love  you 
make  light  of  in  slighting  the  invitations  of  the  gos- 
pel. Such  a  love — so  wonderful  the  universe  never 
witnessed  in  any  other  instance.  In  slighting  it,  sin- 
ner, you  make  light  of  that  which  is  the  crowning 
perfection,  the  most  resplendent  glory  of  Jehovah's 
nature.  A  glory  that  specially  lingers  over  you,  of- 
fering to  shed  its  beams  on  your  darkness  here,  and 
to  create  for  you  the  noontide  of  heaven  hereafter! 
0!  with  what  an  august,  awful  element  you  are 
sporting,  when  you  make  light  of  the  infinite  love  of 
God,  in  the  invitations  of  the  gospel! 

III.  You  make  light  of  the  most  sublime  sorrows 
and  sacrifices  that  have  ever  been  loitnessed  in  the  empire 
of  God.  If  we  instinctively  condemn  the  one  who 
trifles  with  the  affections  of  others,  we  feel  a  greater 
revolting,  a  deeper  and  more  burning  indignation 
when  we  think  of  one  making  light  of  real  sorrows 
and  trifling  with  a  great  sacrifice  made  for  him. 
There  is  something  sacred  in  sorrow.  We  feel  that 
we  cannot  rashly  intrude  into  the  retirement  of  the 
wounded  spirit — that  we  cannot  trifle  with  impunity 
in  the  presence  of  real  grief,  nor  treat  lightly  the 


124  THE  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER  IN 

heart  that  bleeds  with  its  own  anguish.  Now  on 
what  are  the  provision  and  invitations  of  mercy  to 
sinners  founded?  With  what  are  they  inseparably 
associated?  With  the  sorrows  and  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Son  of  God!!  This  is  a  theme  on  which  I  know 
not  how  to  speak !  Though  this  is  a  world  of  sorrow, 
and  each  of  us  has  had  bitter  drops  in  our  earthly 
cup,  yet  who  can  dare  attempt  to  describe  the  woes 
of  the  "man  of  sorrows?'^  We  know  not  what 
were  the  great  depths  of  His  humiliation  "  who 
thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  yet 
made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  on  himself 
the  form  of  a  servant,  humbled  himself,  and  became 
obedient  unto  death."  He  was  born  in  circumstances 
of  sorrow  and  shelterless  poverty  beyond  the  com- 
mon lot  of  man;  he  encountered  the  malice  of  the 
world  when  but  a  tender  infant — he  endured  the 
contradiction  of  sinners  against  himself — he  was 
beset  vvith  watchful  jealous)^  and  envenomed  envy 
at  every  step  of  life.  He  was  rejected  by  his  own 
to  whom  he  came — "  the  foxes  have  holes  and  the 
birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man  hath 
not  where  to  lay  his  head'^ — he  was  homeless, — he 
was  sorely  tried  by  all  the  wiles  and  temptations  of 
the  devil, — in  his  times  of  extremity  he  was  de- 
serted by  friends — his  life  was  often  sought  by  an  in- 
furiated multitude — he  bore  the  scourge  of  tongues, 
and  was  calumniated  even  as  having  a  devil — his  in- 
structions were  despised — his  miracles  disputed,  and 
an  attempt  made  to  explain  them  by  a  reference  to 
Satanic  agency.  But  all  these  were  not  the  princi- 
pal sorrows  of  the  Saviour.  In  the  tears  he  shed 
over  Jerusalem  there  is  the  evidence  of  a  kind  of 


MAKING  LIGHT  OF  THE   GOSPEL.  125 

sorrow  widely  dififerent  and  infinitely  more  intense 
than  all  external  troubles.  The  comprehensive  and 
mournful  views  which  his  holy  mind  took  of  the 
dreadful  condition  of  the  race  that  he  came  to  seek 
and  to  save,  awakened  emotions  of  consuming  grief,  of 
which  mortals  cannot  adequately  conceive.  With 
what  a  different  eye  he  looked  on  the  world  from 
that  of  the  best  mere  man  that  ever  lived.  How 
he  estimated  the  dangers  of  the  impenitent  and 
the  deep  ruin  of  their  souls,  none  but  himself 
can  ever  know!  Imagine,  were  it  possible,  how 
he  felt  in  a  world  of  revolt  and  rebellion  against 
God,  full  of  sin  and  spiritual  death, — himself  the 
only  unfalleuj  holy  being  amongst  all  its  millions  of 
inhabitants.  0!  what  were  the  sorrows  of  the  Sa- 
viour's soul  in  this  view?  He  stood  alone  in  the 
anguish  of  spirit  produced  by  this  cause, — there 
was  not  one  on  earth  that  could  fully  sympathize 
with  him.  And  then  think,  too,  amidst  all  those 
external  troubles  and  this  deep  internal  sorrow  of 
his  mind  over  the  moral  ruins  and  monstrous  sins  of 
the  world, — think  how  the  anticipation  of  the  more 
awful  sufferings  that  were  to  constitute  his  atone- 
ment was  ever  crowding  upon  his  soul  its  dark 
images  from  the  future!  How  many  silent  thoughts 
of  anguish  from  this  source  sank  on  his  holy  heart 
with  a  heaviness  never  known  to  mortals!  We  next 
follow  him  to  Gethsemane,  as  he  enters  on  the  direct 
sufferings  involved  in  his  expiation  for  the  sins  of 
the  world.  Who  would  dare  to  describe  his  emo- 
tions when  there  beneath  the  pall  of  midnight  he 
exclaims  to  his  disciples — "My  soul  is  exceeding 
sorrowful,  even  unto  death.''  There  is  a  mysterious 
11* 


126  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER  IN 

emphasis,  a  divine  pathos  in  these  words  that  cannot 
be  expressed.  But  we  pass  from  this  to  a  more  re- 
markable declaration.  "And  being  in  an  agony,  he 
prayed  the  more  earnestly,  and  his  sweat  was  as  it 
were  great  drops  of  blood  falling  to  the  ground!!" 
On  the  Saviour's  lonely  agony  at  that  moment  it 
would  seem  profane  to  make  a  comment.  Nor  need 
I  dwell  on  all  the  circumstances  of  his  arrest  and 
mock  trial,  that  aggravated  the  already  consuming 
woes  of  his  stricken  soul.  Around  the  meek  suf- 
ferer at  Pilate's  bar  and  in  Herod's  court  there  is  an 
atmosphere  of  hallowed  sorrow — there  are  pangs 
and  throbs  of  agony  in  his  sinless  bosom  there, 
whose  very  greatness  overawes  us  into  silence.  But 
what  did  he  not  endure  when,  on  the  cross,  he  en- 
tered upon  the  awful  rite  of  offering  up  himself  a 
sacrifice  to  God  for  the  salvation  of  the  world !  0 ! 
that  sacrifice — those  sorrows — those  exquisite  agonies 
of  mind  which  it  involved — the  greatness  of  that  one 
offering  for  sin,  which  called  for  the  darkened  hea- 
vens, the  rending  rocks,  quaking  earth  and  opening 
graves  to  attest  its  divinity  !!  Has  God's  vast  empire 
ever  witnessed  so  sublime  sorrows,  so  august  a  sac- 
rifice. No!  In  all  the  woes  of  the  universe  there 
are  none  like  those  which  Jesus  bore  for  our  salva- 
tion. No  sorrows  so  tender,  so  stupendous  as  his — 
no  sacrifice  that  has  been  or  will  be  so  felt  in  its 
bearings  on  man's  destinies  or  on  God's  government 
in  time  and  through  eternity!  0!  who  could  make 
light  of  these  sorrows  of  a  crucified  Saviour?  Who 
could  trifle  and  sport  with  the  awful  sacrifice  which 
he  made  of  his  soul  to  God  for  man's  salvation? 
Yet  you,  my  impenitent  friend,  in  making  light  of 


MAKING  LIGHT  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  127 

the  invitations  of  the  gospel,  do  trifle  with  these  deep, 
sacred  sorrows  of  the  Saviour's  soul,  and  contemn 
the  glorious  sacrifice  which  he  made  of  himself  for  a 
world's  atonement.  This  is  the  very  cliarge  which 
God  himself  brings  against  you  when  he  says  '-  you 
trample  under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and  count  the 
blood  of  the  covenant  with  which  he  was  sanctified 
an  unholy  thing,"  whenever  you  reject  the  offers  of 
mercy.  0,  dying  sinner!  did  your  conduct  ever 
appear  to  you  in  this  light  before?  Did  you  ever 
think  yourself  capable  of  such  enormity  in  sin  as  to 
make  light  of  all  the  tender,  deep,  hallowed  sorrows 
of  the  Son  of  God,  and  to  contemn  that  stupendous, 
that  divine  sacrifice,  which  he  made  of  himself  for 
your  salvation? 

IV.  In  making  light  of  the  invitations  of  the  gos- 
pel, you  make  light  of  precepts  enforced  by  the 
most  iveighty  and  awful  sanctions.  While  the 
gospel  presents  the  wooing  entreaties  of  eternal 
love,  and  exhibits  a  mercy  that  follows  and  yearns 
over  its  impenitent  rejecter  with  infinite  tenderness, 
yet  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  gospel 
has  no  authoritative  claims  to  press  upon  the  sinner. 
It  has  precepts,  not  less  than  promises — penalties, 
not  less  than  rewards.  Now  we  regard  it  as  an  in- 
dication of  great  depravity  and  hardihood  in  crime 
for  a  man  to  make  light  of  the  sanctions  of  criminal 
law.  Few  attain  a  recklessness  that  enables  them 
to  do  so.  Men  generally  do  not  make  light  of  large 
fines,  of  long  periods  of  imprisonment  —  of  a  life- 
time of  solitary  confinement  and  hard  labour — of  the 
penalty  of  hanging,  or  any  other  ignominious  death. 
These  sanctions  that  lie  within  the  range  of  earth, 


128  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER  IN 

and  reach  not  beyond  the  present  life,  overawe  and 
keep  in  check  the  social  wickedness  of  mankind. 
Men  do  7iot  trifle  with  them.  But  what  are  these 
compared  with  the  mighty  sanctions  attached  to  the 
precepts  of  the  gospel?  Besides  the  invitations  and 
offers  of  mercy,  God  in  the  gospel  ^^  commands  all 
men  every  where  to  repent,"  And  what  is  the 
sanction  of  this  precept?  "  Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall 
all  likewise ^e?'wA.'"  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  And  what  is  the 
sanction  to  enforce  this  precept  ?  "  He  that  believeth 
not,  shall  be  damned P^  What  finite  mind  can 
grasp  and  master  the  magnitude  of  these  sanctions'? 
They  are  not  confined  to  the  limits  of  earth,  nor  the 
duration  of  the  present  life.  They  consist  not  in 
temporal  pains  and  penalties.  They  relate  not  to 
mere  bodily  suffering,  nor  to  the  ruin  of  social  hap- 
piness; they  strike  not  at  man's  terrestrial  destinies 
only!  They  are  sanctions  drawn  from  a  future 
world!  They  take  hold  on  a  vast  range  of  eternal 
interests — they  relate  to  the  souVs  reverseless  im- 
mortal doom  !  Endless  perdition — hopeless  dam- 
natio7i,2iYQ  the  penalty  of  disobedience  to  the  precepts 
of  the  gospel.  0  whatsanctions!  The /o55  of  the  soul! 
the  blotting  out  of  all  the  hopes  of  its  eternal  existence 
— a  returnless  exile  from  its  God — an  absolute  ex- 
clusion from  heaven,  and  the  fellowship  of  all  the  holy 
— solitary  confinement  in  the  gloomy  prison  of  God's 
retributive  wrath — "everlasting  chains  under  dark- 
ness"— perfected  in  depravity — the  victim  of  the 
worm  that  never  dies — of  the  fire  that  is  never 
quenched — weeping,  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth 
— the   bitter   portion  of  its   immortal   cup  !     What 


MAKING  LIGHT  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  129 

sanctions  !  Awful  as  the  ruin  of  all  the  highest  in- 
terests of  the  soul  for  eternity — as  the  nameless  woes 
of  an  eternal  hell  !  !  0  my  impenitent  friend  !  if 
you  are  influenced  and  restrained  from  crime  by  the 
thought  of  imprisonment  for  life,  or  the  ignominy  and 
horrors  of  the  gallows,  why  do  you  make  light  of 
the  weighty  and  eternal  sanctions  of  the  precepts  of 
the  gospel  ?  These  sanctions  are  more  weighty  and 
terrible  than  the  penalty  of  mere  moral  law.  "  For 
if  he  that  despised  Moses'  law,  died  without  mercy 
under  two  or  three  witnesses,  of  how  much  sorer 
punishment,  suppose  ye,  shall  he  be  counted  worthy, 
who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and 
counted  the  blood  of  the  covenant  wherewith  he  was 
sanctified  an  unholy  thing,  and  hath  done  despite  to 
the  Spirit  of  grace !  !"  And,  "  if  the  word  spoken 
by  angels  was  steadfast,  and  every  transgression  and 
disobedience  received  a  just  recompense  of  reward, 
how  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great  salva- 
tion ?"  How  obviously  does  God  here  teach  us 
that  the  sanctions  of  the  gospel  are  more  awful 
than  the  penalty  of  the  law.  To  the  thoughtful 
mind,  there  is  the  sublime  of  horror  in  these  sanc- 
tions !  They  constitute,  and  will  consist  of  all  those 
displays  of  Jehovah's  retributive  wrath,  which  he 
thinks  sufficient  to  vindicate  to  the  whole  universe 
through  eternity  his  unsullied  authority,  his  abused, 
injured  love — the  sorrows  and  sacrifice  of  his  Son 
trifled  with  and  contemned — the  Holy  Ghost  quench- 
ed and  grieved  by  those  w^ho  have  made  light  of  the 
invitations  of  the  gospel  !  !  0  impenitent  man  !  is 
it  possible  that  you,  who  will  tremble  and  turn  away 
with  revolting  from  the  stake  or  the  gallows,  will 


130  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER  IN 

make  light  of  sanctions  that  involve  the  '^  shame  and 
everlasting  contempt  "  of  the  second  death — the 
horrors  and  hopeless  agonies  of  the  damned  through 
immortality!!  How  can  you  trifle  with  sanctions 
that  will  make  God's  universe  serious,  through  the 
dateless  ages  of  his  righteous  government,  and  will 
hold  his  great  empire  in  awe  for  ever  and  ever  ! 

V.  Lastly,  in  making  light  of  the  invitations  of 
the  gospel,  you  make  light  of  the  highest  and  noblest 
destinies  to  which  human  nature  can  possibly  rise.  Men 
are  not  insensible  to  the  distinctions  and  destinies  to 
which  they  may  rise  in  the prese?it  life.  However 
trifling  and  temporary  these  distinctions  may  be,  the 
desire  to  attain  them  keeps  the  world  in  bustling  ac- 
tivity. The  man  who  makes  light  of  them  is  re- 
garded as  lost  to  his  best  interests,  and  destined  to  a 
degradation  that  will  make  him  dangerous  to  society. 
But  what  are  the  highest  destinies  of  earth  compared 
with  those  which  the  gospel  presents  to  the  hopes 
and  aspirations  of  man  ?  To  what  are  you  invited 
by  the  gospel?  To  an  immediate  change  for  the 
better  in  your  moral  condition  and  relations.  You 
are  called  from  darkness  to  light,  from  the  power  of 
Satan  unto  God,  from  the  pit  of  corruption  to  the 
purity  of  heart  that  shall  see  God,  from  rebellion  to 
reconciliation  through  the  blood  of  atonement,  from 
guilt  to  pardon,  from  condemnation  to  justification, 
from  enmity  to  love  and  friendship  with  God,  from 
exile  to  intimate  union  with  Jesus  Christ,  from  re- 
morse and  wretchedness  to  peace  of  conscience  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  from  a  degraded  moral  cha- 
racter to  the  very  image  of  the  Son  of  God,  from  a 
grovelling  sphere  of  wicked  works  to  a  benevolent 


MAKING  LIGHT  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  131 

activity  God-like,  elevating,  blessing  and  blessed  in 
all  that  it  does.  And  is  not  this  the  highest  destiny 
which  human  nature  can  attain  in  the  present  world? 
To  be  saved  from  the  dominion  and  pollution  of  sin, 
to  be  pardoned  and  received  into  favour  with  God, 
to  be  united  to  Christ,  to  be  filled  with  joy  and  peace 
in  believing,  to  have  a  character  bearing  the  very  li- 
neaments of  the  Saviour,  and  to  be  bringing  forth  the 
peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness  in  this  life  is  an  in- 
comparably higher  destiny  than  any  other  on  earth. 
Now  this  is  the  noble  distinction  in  the  present  life, 
which  you  make  lighl  of  by  slighting  the  gospel. 
But  the  grander  destinies  held  out  in  the  gospel  per- 
tain not  to  this  world.  Christ's  kingdom,  in  more 
senses  than  one,  is  not  of  this  world.  Man  is  im- 
mortal. This  world  is  but  the  cradle  of  his  eternal 
existence!  As  he  has  the  germ  of  an  imperishable 
being,  so  it  contains  all  the  capacities  that  fit  him  for 
great  destinies  in  an  everlasting  futurity.  Now  the 
gospel  pre-eminentl}^,  has  brought  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light.  Its  invitations  not  only  point  to  the 
grave  and  promise  a  splendid  triumph  to  the  soul 
over  the  last  enemy  of  its  mortal  nature,  but  they 
point  beyond  to  boundless  realms  of  light  and  joy. 
There  is  an  eternal  heaven  of  purity  and  peace,  of 
loveliness  and  repose,  there  \s  p  ei fee  lion  in  holiness 
for  the  soul  there,  there  is  immortal  companionship, 
sympathy,  and  similarity,  with  all  the  good  and  the 
great  gathered  from  the  universe  to  grace  the  court 
of  the  Eternal  King,  there  is  an  endless  progression 
in  knowledge,  holiness,  and  bliss,  an  eternally 
increasing  activity  in  well-doing,  there  is  a  crown 
of    more    glittering    glory    than    were    it    studded 


132  THE  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER  IN 

with  all  the  material  suns  and  stars  that  God  has 
made;  there  is  a  throne  more  resplendent  than  the 
condensed  lustre  of  all  the  worlds  of  light  ever 
created!  There  is  the  presence  of  the  infinite  God; 
the  visions  of  Jesus'  face,  as  the  eternal  sunshine  of 
the  soul.  In  that  light  the  gospel  tells  you  that  you 
may  live  and  move  and  have  your  endless  blissful 
being.  To  that  glorious  empire  you  may  rise,  and 
be  a  king  and  a  priest  unto  God  for  ever!  Nay,  that 
you  may  go  there  and  hold  a  relation  as  a  redeemed 
soul  to  your  Redeemer,  that  will  constitute  a  higher 
and  more  endeared  distinction  than  the  mightiestangel 
enjoys!  What  a  destiny  of  inconceivable  glories! 
A  great  coronation,  an  august  enthronement,  a  par- 
ticipation of  the  soul  in  the  joys  of  its  Lord,  amidst 
the  harps  and  songs,  the  light  and  splendours,  the 
triumphs  and  eternal  transports  of  bliss  in  heaven. 
0,  can  human  nature  rise  to  such  a  destiny?  Yes, 
"  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it:" — '^Father, 
I  will  that  those  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with 
me  where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold  my  glory." 
0  my  God!  can  human  nature  make  light  of  such  a 
destiny  ?  Yes,  dying  sinner,  t/ou  tnake  light  of 
these  highest  noblest  destinies,  to  which  any  finite 
nature  can  rise.  You  slight  the  mercy  that  invites 
and  woos  you  to  them.  You  throw  away  as  worth- 
less the  prize  of  an  eternal  heaven,  you  trample  its 
crowns  and  thrones,  its  suns  and  stars  beneath  your 
reckless  feet.  You  contemn  that  infinite  aggregation 
of  glories  and  of  joys  which  Jehovah  judges  to  be 
amply  sufficient  to  express  to  the  universe  and 
through  eternity,  His  approbation  and  love  of  the 
righteous,  and  to  constitute  tlie  rewards  and  confer 


MAKING  LIGHT  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  133 

the  raptures  of  eternal  blessedness  on  all  the  sinless 
and  the  saved  of  his  universal  empire!  0,  is  there 
madness  like  this  any  where  out  of  the  great  mad- 
house of  perdition  ?  My  dear  impenitent  friends, 
while  God  forbears  with  you,  and  gives  you  time  for 
reflection,  0  pause  and  think  of  what  you  are  making 
light,  as  you  disregard  the  invitations  of  the  gospel. 
0,  will  you,  can  you  turn  coldly  away  from  the 
offered,  exalted  destinies  of  an  eternal  heaven?  If 
you  can,  if  you  will  trifle  with  this  message,  too,  as 
you  have  done  with  all  the  invitations  of  your  God 
heretofore,  0,  how  will  he  regard  your  conduct  in 
this  matter?  and  how  will  you  dare  any  longer  to 
presume  on  his  continued  patience  and  forbearance 
with  you  ?  When  you  reflect  on  the  enormity  of 
your  course,  do  you  not  wonder,  sinner,  that  these 
heavens  are  not  already  gathering  blackness  over 
you,  and  the  eternal  throne,  high  above  them,  sending 
out  the  "  seven  thunders  "  of  its  condemnation  on 
conduct  like  this? 

Let  me  say  to  you,  my  dear  friends,  in  con- 
clusion, that  there  will  be  a  limit  to  this  forbear- 
ance and  long-suffering,  and  to  yowr  trifling  too,  with 
the  warnings  and  invitations  of  your  God.  You 
cannot  always  thus  make  light  of  them.  Occasions 
await  you,  not  long  hence,  when  all  that  is  in- 
cluded in  the  offers  and  invitations  of  the  gospel, 
will  hQfelt  by  you  to  be  an  infinitely  serious  reality, 
The  instances  are  exceedingly  rare,  in  which  men, 
when  racked  with  pain,  overwhelmed  with  calamity, 
and  shaken  on  the  verge  of  an  eternal  state,  make 
light  either  of  the  wrath  or  the  mercy  of  a  holy  God. 

A  few  hours  of  severe  illness  will  be  sufficient  to 
correct    this   shocking,  this    Heaven-daring   levity. 
12 


134  ENORMITY  OF  THE  SINNER,  &C. 

Approaching  death  will  make  a  vast  change  in  the 
sinner's  apprehensions  on  this  subject,  and  will  turn 
his  whole  intellect  into  one  serious,  aching  thought, 
his  whole  heart  into  one  solemn,  agonized  feeling. 
When  the  deep  covering  is  once  removed  from  yon 
dread  eternal  world,  and  the  eye  of  the  departing 
spirit  is  fastened  on  those  awful  realities  which  then 
rise  on  its  view,  God's  warnings  and  invitations  in 
the  gospel  will  appear  to  be  infinitely  serious  and  mo- 
mentous matters!  The  trembling  soul  will  trifle 
with  them  no  more  for  ever.  The  awe  of  eternal 
realities  will  be  upon  it.  But  all  its  intense  serious- 
ness and  solemnity  then  will  be  of  no  avail.  It  will 
be  the  seriousness  of  remorse  and  fruitless  regret, 
the  deep  solemnity  of  everlasting  despair  gathering 
upon  the  lost  soul  the  gloom  of  an  endless  night  of 
wo.  Dear  friends,  shall  this  be  your  first  serious- 
ness, your  first  solemn  thoughtfulness  on  the  great 
truths  of  God?  God  forbid.  Reflect  on  these 
themes  now  in  the  sunshine  of  mercy  and  of  hope, 
in  the  calm  of  the  Sabbath,  and  in  the  quiet  of  health 
and  ease.  Wait  not  for  the  darkness  and  storms  of 
adversity,  nor  for  the  more  troubled  and  gloomy  mo- 
ments of  dissolution  to  wake  you  to  solemn  thought- 
fulness.  Come  with  a  penitent  believing  heart  now, 
and  embrace  the  too  long  neglected  offers  of  salva- 
tion, and  weep  at  the  Saviour's  feet  at  the  thought 
that  you  ever  made  light  of  them. 


ADVANTAGES  OF  CHRISTIAN  REPROOF.  135 


SERMON    VII. 


CHRISTIAN  REPROOF,— THE  OBLIGATIONS  TO  THIS 
DUTY,— THE  CHARACTER  OF  THOSE  WHO  ARE 
TO  ADMINISTER  IT,  — THE  SPIRIT  IN  WHICH  IT 
SHOULD  BE  GIVEN,  AND  ITS  HAPPY  RESULTS. 

"  Let  the  righteous  smite  me;  it  shall  be  a  kindness:  and  let  him  re- 
prove me;  it  shall  be  an  excellent  oil,  which  shall  not  break  my  head;  for 
yet  my  prayer  also  shall  be  in  their  calamity." — Fsalm  cxli.  5. 

Solomon  has  said  that  "  open  rebuke  is  better 
than  secret  love.  Faithful  are  the  wounds  of  a  friend, 
but  the  kisses  of  an  enemy  are  deceitful/*'  God  has 
made  Chnstian  reproof  a  means  of  growth  in  grace. 
A  disposition  to  receive  such  reproof  meekly,  and 
to  profit  by  it,  is  one  decisive  evidence  of  true  piety. 
The  language  of  the  sensitive,  circumspect,  sincere 
Christian  is — "  If  my  own  heart  do  not  smite  me  as 
it  ought,  let  my  friend  do  it!  Let  me  never  fall 
under  that  dreadful  judgment  of  being  let  alone  in 
sin  !"  The  partiality  which  we  naturally  feel  for 
every  thing  pertaining  to  ourselves — the  deceitful- 
ness  and  blinding  influence  of  sin,  and  the  spirit  of 
self-indulgence,  from  which  the  best  are  not  wholly 
free,  render  faithful  Christian  rebuke  indispensable 
as  a  means  of  sanctification.  This  is  one  form  of 
Christian  influence  on  our  brethren,  for  which  there 


1^  ADVANTAGES  OF 

is  no  substitute.  Our  fraternal  affection,  our  good 
wishes,  and  our  prayers  for  our  fellow  Christians 
will  never  supply  the  place  of  frank,  faithful  reproof. 
That  this  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  Christian 
duties,  all  those  who  have  honestly  endeavoured  to 
perform  it,  well  know.  But  difficulty  in  the  per- 
formance of  a  duty  is  no  argument  against  our  obli- 
gations to  do  it  faithfully.  The  important  instru- 
mentality which  Christian  rebuke  has  in  promoting 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  souls,  cannot  be  dispensed 
with,  because  of  the  pains-taking  effort  necessary  to 
the  performance  of  this  duty.  The  Psalmist  felt  his 
need  of  this  means  of  grace,  and  he  openly  invited 
his  brethren  to  be  faithful  in  their  reproof,  and  pro- 
mised that  he  would  not  only  receive  it  kindly,  but 
endeavour  to  derive  from  it  the  advantage  which 
God  designed  it  to  confer.  "Let  the  righteous 
smite  me;  it  shall  be  a  kindness:  and  let  him  re- 
prove me;  it  shall  be  an  excellent  oil,  which  shall  not 
break  my  head;  for  yet  my  prayer  also  shall  be  in 
their  calamity." 

In  the  subsequent  remarks,  I  shall,  in  the  1st 
place,  briefly  notice  the  obligation  to  this  duty  of 
Christian  reproof — 2d,  the  character  of  those 
who  are  to  administer  it. — "  Let  the  righteous 
smite  meJ'^  3d,  the  spirit  i7i  which  reproof  should 
be  given — and  4th,  some  of  the  happy  results  of 
the  performance  of  this  duty. 

I.  The  obligation  to  the  duly  of  Christian  reproof. 
I  assume  it  as  granted  here,  that  you  knovv  what  is 
meant  by  the  duty  of  Christian  reproof.  It  is  not 
talking  about  the  faults  of  our  brethren  to  others :  it 
is  not  reproaching  them  for  their  faults  in  the  spirit 


CHRISTIAN  REPROOF.  137 

of  the  Pharisee,  thanking  God  that  we  are  not  sin- 
ners such  as  they.  It  is  not  taunting  them  for  their 
inconsistencies,  with  a  feeling  of  self-gratulation  that 
we  are  free  from  like  blemishes  ourselves.  No; 
it  is  pointing  out  to  them  alone,  their  sin  in  some 
particular  thing,  and  tenderly  remonstrating  with 
them,  to  repent  of  and  forsake  it.  The  obligation 
to  this  duty  I  should  not  feel  it  necessary  to  no- 
tice, were  it  not  a  duty  so  grossly  neglected.  1 
might  argue  the  obligation  to  this  difficult  and  ne- 
glected Christian  duty,  from  the  very  relation  which 
we  hold  to  our  fellow  Christians,  from  the  general 
benevolence  of  the  gospel,  requiring  us  especially  to 
do  good  to  "  them  of  the  household  of  faith,"  from  bro- 
therly love — from  the  very  circumstances  in  which 
Christians  are  placed,  and  from  the  known  influence 
which  they  have  on  each  other,  from  the  fact  that 
just  such  an  instrumentality  as  Christian  reproof  suits 
the  social  nature  of  man,  and  that  nothing  can  sup- 
ply its  place.  But  I  pass  over  all  these,  and  rest  the 
obligation  to  this  duty  on  the  simple  authority  of  the 
Bible.  In  Lev.  xix.  17,  we  have  the  following — 
"  Thou  shalt  in  any  wise  rebuke  thy  neighbour  and 
not  suffer  sin  upon  him."  Solomon  says,  '^  Rebuke 
a  wise  man,  and  he  will  love  thee."  "  But  to  them 
that  rebuke  him,  shall  be  delight,  and  a  good  blessing 
shall  come  upon  them."  A  greater  than  Solomon 
hath  said,  "If  thy  brother  trespass  against  ihee,rebuke 
him."  Again — "  Them  that  sin,  rebuke  before  all, 
that  others  may  fear."  "  Reprove,  rebuke,  ex- 
hort with  all  long-suffering." — "  Wherefore  rebuke 
them  sharply."  These  are  a  few  of  many  similar 
texts  of  Scripture,  that  might  be  cited  to  show 
that  the  obligation  to  the  duty  of  Christian  reproof 
12* 


13S  ADVANTAGES  OF 

is  just  as  solemn  and  weighty,  as  that  which  binds 
«  him  who  stole  to  steal  no  more  " — or  as  that  which 
binds  each  one  to  "  provide  things  honest  in  the 
sight  of  all  men."  There  is  not  a  duty  of  our  holy 
religion  more  clearly  revealed,  or  more  cogently 
enforced  by  a  Scriptural  obligation  than  the  one 
now  under  consideration.  And  Christians  will  never 
appreciate  this  duty,  nor  perform  it  aright,  till  their 
consciences  will  cry  out  and  condemn  them  for  its 
neglect,  as  severely  as  for  neglecting  to  keep  the 
Sabbath — attend  on  public  worship,  read  their  Bibles, 
pray,  or  be  honest  in  their  ordinary  dealings. 

II.  Let  us  notice  now,  in  the  second  place,  the 
character  of  those  who  are  to  administer  reproof  to 
others — "  Let  the  righteous  smite  me."  The  Psalm- 
ist  did  not  invite  every  one  to  take  this  liberty  with 
him.  If  he  had,  officious  ignorance  would  have  been 
the  very  first  to  accept  the  invitation  !  The  radicals 
and  self-constiluted  reformers  of  his  day,  would  have 
dealt  their  barbarous  blows  greatly  to  the  annoyance 
if  not  to  the  breaking  of  the  royal  Psalmist's  head. — 
It  is  with  the  duty  of  Christian  reproof,  as  it  is  with 
certain  other  delicate  social  duties,  those  who  are 
least  qualified,  are  most  forward  and  noisy  in  attempt- 
ing td  perform  it.  To  such  God  might  justly  say, 
"  What  hast  thou  to  do,  to  declare  my  statutes,  or  that 
thou  shouldst  take  my  covenant  in  thy  mouth  ? — 
seeing  thou  hatest  instruction,  and  castest  my  words 
behind  thee!"  There  is  one  indispensable  requisite 
in  the  character  of  those  who  administer  rebuke  to 
others — viz.,  they  must  "take  the  beam  out  of  their 
own  eye  "  before  they  attempt  the  delicate  work  of 
taking  "the  mote"  out  of  their  brother's  eye. — 


CHRISTIAN  REPROOF.  l^Q 

"Let  the  RIGHTEOUS  smite  me."  Let  the  sincere, 
humble,  constant  Christian,  who  is  blameless  and 
harmless,  the  child  of  God,  without  rebuke,  let  hm 
administer  reproof.  Let  the  conscientious  man,  who 
endeavours  to  keep  himself  always  in  the  love  of 
God,  who  is  a  pattern  of  righteousness  and  peace,  re- 
prove and  rebuke  others.  This  is  Christian  reproof, 
and  has  the  weight  which  God  designed  it  to  have. 
It  is  spoken  as  by  one  having  authority — it  comes 
from  one  to  whom  you  cannot  apply  the  cutting  retort, 
"Physician,  heal  thyself."  To  reprove  sin  in  others, 
is  but  carrying  out  the  sincere  abhorrence  which  he 
feels  for  his  own  sins,  and  endeavouring  to  promote 
in  his  brother  the  purity  of  heart  after  which  he  daily 
pants  himself.  It  is  in  perfect  keeping  and  consist- 
ency WMth  the  general  tenor  of  his  own  holy  life.  It 
is  only  from  the  righteous  that  rebuke  can  consistently 
come,  and  only  when  administered  by  them  will  it 
exert  the  salutary  influence  to  reclaim  and  save  an 
erring  brother.  Every  thing  then  under  the  name 
and  pretence  of  rebuke,  which  does  not  emanate  from 
the  very  spirit  of  righteousness,  degenerates  into 
mere  fault-finding  and  abuse,  and  is  ordinarily  vented 
to  gratify  personal  dislike  or  malignity.  But  if  it 
be  the  righteous  only  who  can  properly  administer 
Christian  reproof,  may  they  administer  it  equally  as 
well  and  with  the  same  success  in  any  and  every 
temper  of  mind  in  which  for  the  time  they  may  hap- 
pen to  be?  This  introduces  the  third  general  topic 
of  discourse,  which  was  to  notice  the  spirit  in 
which  Christian  rebuke  is  to  be  administered. 

A.  And  I  remark  first,  that  it  must  be  in  the  spirit 
of  true  Christian  meekness.     A   proud,   pharisaical, 


140  ADVANTAGES  OF 

self-glorying  spirit  never  can  administer  a  reproof 
acceptably  to  God,  or  profitably  to  one's-self  or  his 
fellow  men.  The  haughtiness  of  one  puffed  up  with  a 
false  estimate  of  his  own  spiritual  superiority,  will 
render  him  wholly  incapable  of  performing  the  duty 
now  under  consideration.  God  has  not  left  us  to  mere 
conjecture  on  this  point.  He  has  decided  the  im- 
portance of  Christian  meekness,  as  an  indispensable 
qualification  for  the  performance  of  this  duty  in  the 
following  precept.  "Brethren,  if  a  man  be  over- 
taken in  a  fault,  ye  which  are  spiritual  restore  such 
a  one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  considering  thyself, 
lest  thou,  also,  be  tempted.'^  Mingled  with  a  sin- 
cere and  tender  compassion  for  the  offender,  there 
must  be  an  humbling  conviction  of  our  own  frailty 
and  liability  to  sin,  and  while  we  reprove  him  we 
must  cherish  a  holy  fear  of  falling  ourselves.  We 
must  go  to  our  erring  brother,  and  rebuke  him  in 
that  meek,  gentle,  subdued  spirit,  resulting  from  a 
penitent  view  of  our  own  numerous  sins  in  the  sight 
of  God,  and  from  an  apprehension  that  we  may  soon 
need  the  Christian  repoof  of  a  brother  for  our  own 
faults. 

All  harshness,  abruptness,  overbearing  and  censo- 
riousness,  are  utterly  opposed  to  the  spirit  in  which 
Christian  rebuke  is  to  be  administered.  It  is  em- 
phatically true  in  this  case,  that  "the  servant  of  the 
Lord  must  not  strive,  but  be  gentle,  in  meekness  in- 
structing those  that  oppose  themselves."  Above 
all,  the  one  who  would  kindly  and  faithfully  reprove 
the  faults  of  a  brother,  must  not  himself  be  easil}^  ir- 
ritated, but  be  slow  to  wrath.  Rebuke  is  painful,  if 
deserved,  and  sometimes,  at  first,  it  excites  anger,  and 


CHRISTIAN  REPROOF.  141 

leads  to  irritating  words.  If  then  the  reprover  have 
not  a  gracious  control  over  his  own  temper,  he  may- 
display  a  hasty  spirit,  that  will  not  only  destroy  the 
power  of  his  rebuke,  but  deserve  itself  to  be  rebuked ; 
though  some  men  do  seem  to  think  that  there  is 
neither  sin  nor  danger  in  being  angry.  The  meek- 
ness and  gentleness  of  Christ,  the  charity  that  suffer- 
eth  long  and  is  kind,  is  not  easily  provoked,  must 
sway  the  heart  and  control  the  tongue  in  adminis- 
tering Christian  reproof.  Any  other  spirit  will  only 
dictate  scornful  reproach,  as  injurious  to  him  who 
utters  it  as  to  him  on  whom  it  is  heaped! 

B.  Secondly — Christian  reproof  must  be  adminis- 
tered in  a  spirit  of  real  kindness  and  brotherly 
love  for  the  individual  reproved^  and  with  a  sin- 
cere desire  to  do  him  good. 

Even  in  partially  sanctified  men  there  is  some- 
times a  disposition  to  tell  others  their  faults,  not 
through  pure  benevolence.  Personal  dislike — pique 
or  secret  grudge  will  also  prompt  to  this!  And  so 
will  the  unhallowed  feeling,  that  it  gives  us  a  kind 
of  superiority  to  be  reprovers  of  our  brethren.  I 
can  hardly  believe  that  a  Christian  would  ever  tell 
another  his  faults  merely  for  the  sdke  oi  mortifying 
the  offender;  and  yet  even  this  is  possible.  But 
such  a  spirit  God  will  frown  upon  and  condemn,  and 
the  reproof  which  it  dictates  differs  very  little  from 
the  accusations  of  the  devil.  A  sincere  love  for  our 
erring  brother's  soul — a  benevolent  regard  for  his 
spiritual  welfare — the  desire  that  he  should  have  the 
peace  of  God,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost — that  he 
should  grow  in  grace,  and  be  more  and  more  useful; 
— this  is  the  spirit  with  which  we  are  to  administer 


142  ADVANTAGES  OF 

reproof.  The  law  of  brotherly  kindness  must  be  on 
our  lips — the  benevolence  of  Christ  in  our  hearts. 
In  rebuking  our  offending  brother,  we  must  make  it 
apparent  that  it  is  his  highest  good  that  we  honestly 
seek.  In  reproving  him,  it  must  be  obvious  that  we 
have  no  malignant  gratification,  no  spleen  to  vent — 
no  superiority  to  arrogate  to  ourselves.  It  must  be 
m.anifest  to  him  that  we  do  it  from  a  sincere  convic- 
tion of  duty — from  the  fact  that  we  regard  it  as  one 
appointed  means  of  his  sanctification,  and  that  if  we 
did  not  love  him  and  devoutly  desire  his  holiness 
and  happiness  as  a  Christian,  we  could  never  be  in- 
duced by  other  and  inferior  motives  to  attempt  this 
painful  dut3\  0  there  is  a  power  in  Christian  rebuke, 
when  administered  in  a  spirit  like  this,  which  will 
subdue  and  reclaim  any  thing  but  a  heart  of  adamant! 
c.  Thirdly. — Christian  reproof  is  to  beadministered 
in  a  spirit  o{  firmness  and  fidelity.  This  is  not  in- 
consistent with  Christian  meekness  and  gentleness, 
nor  with  fraternal  kindness  and  tender  benevolent 
desire  to  do  our  offending  brother  good.  A  timid, 
vacillating,  temporizing  spirit,  will  never  effect  any 
thing  in  reproving  and  correcting  the  obliquities  of 
others.  The  hand  of  the  surgeon  who  amputates  a 
diseased  limbor  fungous  growth  from  the  human  body, 
must  be  a  stead}'-  hand,  unmoved  by  the  cries  and 
the  writhing  of  the  patient.  It  is  not  cruelty,  but 
kindness  to  the  sufferer,  that  keeps  the  surgeon 
undiverted  and  firm  to  his  purpose,  till  the  operation 
is  performed.  So  he  that  would  successfully  admi- 
nister Christian  reproof,  must  have  his  heart  in  the 
fear  of  God,  firmly  set  on  the  work.  He  must  go 
with  an  inflexible  determination,  by  Divine  aid,  to 


CHRISTIAN  REPROOF.  143 

accomplish  what  he  attempts.  The  wincing  irrita- 
bility, and  provoking  replies  of  the  offender,  must 
not  for  a  moment  divert  him  from  his  purpose,  or 
throw  him  off  his  guard.  With  an  affectionate,  pray- 
erful, devout,  and  immovable  spirit,  he  must  bring 
the  power  of  rebuke  on  his  erring  brother's  con- 
science, and  hold  it  there  without  shrinking  or  trem- 
bling, till  it  has  won  that  brother,  or  proved  him  to 
be  incorrigible  I  No  false  pity — no  unwarrantable 
leniency  to  his  faults — no  ignoble  fear  of  risking  our 
popularity  with  him  and  incurring  his  dislike,  must 
cause  us  to  waver  in  our  determination,  or  to  cease 
from  our  work,  till  it  be  accomplished.  And  then 
we  are  to  be  as  faithful  as  we  are  firm.  We  are 
not  to  cloak  or  palliate  his  fault.  We  are  to  talk 
lo  him  as  we  are  tempted  to  talk  about  him  to  others. 
The  admirable  point  and  pungency  of  Nathan's  re- 
buke to  David,  shows  us  the  importance  of  fidelity 
in  this  duty.  There  is  no  place  for  circumlocution — 
for  indirect  intimations,  or  for  any  compromise  of  the 
palpable  truth  in  the  case.  Tell  him  his  fault  honestly, 
frankly,  fully; — let  him  know  just  how  it  appears  to 
you  and  to  others — how  it  mars  his  Christian  charac- 
ter, grieves  his  brethren,  and  puts  a  stumbling-block 
in  the  way  of  the  wicked.  Show  it  to  him  in  the 
light  of  God's  word,  and  not  with  the  glosses  whicii 
man's  estimate  puts  upon  it.  Suffer  him  not  to  escape 
from  the  point  of  your  rebuke  by  drawing  your  at- 
tention to  the  faults  and  inconsistencies  of  others,  but 
tell  him,  if  he  knows  so  well  how  others  ought  to 
live,  and  sees  that  they  fail,  so  much  the  more  is  he 
obligated  to  walk  circumspectly  himself.  Repeat  the 
declaration-  to   him — "  Thoit  art  the  onan.^^     Let 


144  ADVANTAGES  OF 

him  know  that  your  business  is  with  him,  and  that 
his  business,  for  the  time  being,  is  with  his  own  sin, 
not  the  sins  of  others.  Do  not  permit  him  to  con- 
ceal from  his  own  eyes,  and  to  attempt  to  conceal 
from  yours,  the  deformity  of  his  sin,  by  the  flimsy 
veil  of  soft  names  for  it,  or  by  any  apology.  In  all 
good  conscience  and  Christian  fidelity,  do  you  tear 
ofif  the  veil,  and  in  tears  beseech  him  to  look  at  his 
fault  in  its  naked  deformity  as  seen  in  heaven,  till 
his  eye  shall  affect  his  heart — till,  penitent  and  sub- 
dued, he  is  recovered  from  sin — restored  to  the  fa- 
vour of  God  and  to  the  practice  of  consistent  piety. 
Are  there  any  happy  effects  to  be  realized  from  the 
faithful  performance  of  this  duty  ?  This  was  the  fourth 
and  last  general  topic  proposed  in  this  discussion, — 
namely,  the  blessed  consequences  of  Christian  reproof. 

I.  The  first  that  I  shall  mention  is,  that  it  will  free 
the  Christian  who  performs  this  duty  from  being  par- 
taker of  other  men's  sins,  and  will  give  him  a  peace  of 
conscience  which  he  cannot  otherwise  enjoy.  God  has 
solemnly  warned  Christians  in  the  following  words: 
"  Be  ye  not  partakers  of  other  men's  sins.''  Now  that 
professing  Christian  who  fails  to  rebuke  or  reprove  a 
brother  whom  he  knows  to  be  in  fault,  silently  assents 
to  that  brother's  sin!  His  conduct  obviousl}^  shows 
that  he  either  does  not  consider  his  brother  as  sinning 
at  all,  or  that  his  fault  is  so  trivial  that  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  tell  him  of  it,  or  use  any  means  to  free  him 
from  it.  This  is  the  inference  which  the  erring  brother 
himself  draws,  as  well  as  others  around  him.  Now 
though  we  are  not  the  keepers  of  our  brother's  soul, 
we  are,  to  some  extent,  the  keepers  of  his  religious 
character;  and  we  have  the  capability,  uirder  God,  of 


CHRISTIAN  REPROOF.  145 

preventing  his  sin  and  promoting  his  holiness.  For 
all  the  influence  which  we  might  use  to  free  him  from 
his  faults,  and  which  we  do  not  exert,  God  will  hold 
us  accountable.  And  in  all  the  sins  which  he  com- 
mits in  consequence  of  our  neglect  to  reprove  him, 
we  are  direct  partakers. — A  portion  of  the  guilt  at- 
taches to  us,  and  will  be  found  on  our  souls  in  the 
day  of  trial,  unless  we  repent  and  do  our  duty  to 
him  faithfully.  Now  we  may  complain  of  this  as 
hard,  if  we  choose,  but  this  will  not  alter  the  case. 
There  is  no  possible  way  in  which  we  can  free  our- 
selves from  being  partakers  of  other  men's  sins,  but 
by  living  holy  lives  ourselves,  and  by  firm,  faithful, 
Christian  reproof  to  them  for  their  faults.  Not  only 
must  our  lives  testify  against  their  delinquency,  but 
our  lips,  in  kind,  frank  rebuke,  must  tell  them  their 
sins,  remonstrate  with  them,  and  beseech  them  to 
turn  from  the  error  of  their  way.  Thus  shall  we  be 
delivered  from  a  dreadful  participation  in  their  guilt, 
and  have  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience.  Va- 
luable as  this  testimony  is,  and  essential  as  it  is  to 
the  happiness  of  a  moral  being,  it  cannot,  in  the  na- 
ture of  the  case,  ever  be  enjoyed  but  by  those  who  in 
any  wise,  at  any  hazard  and  sacrifice,  perform  the 
duty  of  faithful  Christian  rebuke  to  their  erring  bre- 
thren. 0  who  would  not  feel  richly  rewarded  for 
fidelity  in  this  duty,  by  the  thought  that  he  was  un- 
tarnished by  the  guilt  of  other  men's  sins,  and  blest 
with  a  peace  of  conscience  to  be  procured  on  no  other 
terms ! ! 

II.  Another  happy  effect  of  faithful  Christian  re- 
proof is,  that  it  is  often  the  means  of  breaking  the  spell 
and  delusions  of  sin  on  a  brother^ s  mind,  which  have 
13 


146  ADVANTAGES  OF 

withstood  all  other  influences.  One  of  the  essential 
characteristics  of  sin  is  its  power  to  infatuate  its  vic- 
tim. Hence  the  Scriptures  speak  of  "the  deceitfulness 
of  sin!"  It  often  binds  the  individual  under  its 
power,  as  by  a  spell  of  enchantment.  He  cannot  see 
himself  as  every  one  else  can  see  him.  He  appears 
to  be  strangely  insensible  to  his  true  spiritual  condi- 
tion. He  looks  at  every  thing  through  the  false 
medium  that  sin  has  thrown  around  it, — learns  to 
justify,  to  himself  at  least,  that  which  his  own  con- 
science once  condemned,  and  lives  for  a  season  com- 
paratively contented  and  happy  in  his  criminal  indul- 
gences. This  was  precisely  David's  case  in  the 
matter  of  Uriah.  He  had  a  conscience,  had  the 
word  of  God,  that  is,  the  law  and  that  portion  of  the 
Old  Testament  extant  in  his  day,  he  had  religious 
ordinances,  and  all  the  means  of  being  awakened  to 
a  sense  of  the  great  guilt  he  had  contracted  in  that 
case;  and  yet  the  charm  of  sin  held  him  in  a  strange 
insensibility  for  a  length  of  time,  and  he  seemed  to 
enjoy  the  unlawful  gratifications  in  which  he  indulged. 
How  much  longer  his  conscience  would  have  slept 
and  his  heart  reposed  in  the  lap  of  Delilah,  we  know 
not,  had  not  God  commissioned  Nathan  to  go  to  him 
and  administer  faithful  Christian  rebuke.  After  all 
other  means  had  failed,  this  succeeded  in  breaking 
the  accursed  spell  of  sin  on  his  soul,  and  in  over- 
whelming him  in  the  deep  repentance  which  he 
vents  so  touchingly  in  the  fifty-first  Psalm.  And  it  is 
just  as  true  now,  as  in  the  days  of  the  Psalmist,  that 
faithful  Christian  reproof  will  succeed  in  destroying 
those  enchantments  of  sin  on  the  mind,  which  have 
witlistood  all  ordinary  means  of  awakening  and  re- 


CHRISTIAN  REPROOF.  147 

covering  the  wanderer.  And  we  can  see  an  adap- 
tation in  this  duty,  to  produce  this  happy  result. 
Christian  rebuke  avails  itself  of  the  social  and  sym- 
pathetic laws  of  our  nature.  When  our  brother 
comes  to  us  in  the  meekness  of  the  gospel — with  a 
heart  knit  to  us  in  Christian  love,  yearning  over  us 
in  sincere  and  devout  desires  for  our  spiritual  wel- 
fare, and  determined  to  benefit  us  and  promote  our 
sanctification,  if  possible,  and  then  reproves  us  for 
our  sins,  showing  by  every  line  of  his  countenance, 
every  glance  of  his  eye,  and  every  intonation  of  his 
voice,  that  he  is  deeply  convinced  that  we  are  sin- 
ning against  God,  and  wounding  our  own  souls,  that 
his  heart  is  ready  to  break  in  anguish  over  the  course 
that  we  are  pursuing,  and  that  his  only  motive  for 
reproving  us  and  remonstrating  with  us,  is  to  promote 
our  own  highest  happiness,  our  spiritual  and  eternal 
good, who  can  resist  the  appeal]  Unless  we  be  given 
over  to  a  reprobate  mind,  we  must  imbibe  a  portion 
of  his  tender  spirit,  catch  the  warm  Christian  sympa- 
thies of  his  heart,  have  the  conviction  of  his  mind  in 
reference  to  our  sin  become  the  conviction  of  our 
minds,  and  be  melted  into  penitence,  and  delivered 
from  the  delusions  of  the  destroyer!  0!  what  an 
incalculable  loss  do  Christians  and  the  church  at 
large  sustain,  by  the  neglect  of  a  dut}^,  which,  when 
faithfully  performed,  is  often  successful  in  reclaiming 
from  that  infatuation  of  sin  which  resists  all  other 
means.  "Let  the  righteous  smite  me;  it  shall  be  a 
kindness:  and  let  him  reprove  me;  it  shall  be  an  ex- 
cellent oil,  that  shall  not  break  my  head.'^ 

III.  A  third  happy  effect  of  the  faithful  perform- 
ance of  this  duty,  is,  that  it  will  prevent  the  evil  of  tale- 
bearing and  back-biting.     A  prevalent,  giant  evil  this. 


148  ADVANTAGES  OF 

in  some  of  our  churches.  Any  thing  that  promises 
to  remedy  this  evil,  ought  to  be  hailed  with  gladness 
by  Christians.  God  has  brought  his  authority  to 
bear  on  it  in  the  direct  command,  "Thou  shalt  not  go 
up  and  down  in  the  land  as  a  tale-bearer;  thou  shalt 
not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbour.'^  No- 
thing is  more  manifest  than  that  professing  Chris- 
tians are  not  permitted  to  talk  about  the  faults  of 
others,  till  they  go  to  them  and  tell  them  their  faults 
alone, — and  if  they  are  not  reclaimed,  then  to  bring 
them  before  the  church  for  trial.  This  second  step 
must  be  taken,  and  the  individuals  condemned,  after 
a  fair  hearing,  before  Christians  are  at  liberty  to  talk 
about  their  sins.  This  is  God's  rule  on  the  subject. 
How  much  it  is  regarded,  some  of  our  consciences 
can  testify.  Now  we  say,  that  one  blessed  result  of 
faithful  Christian  reproof,  will  be  to  prevent  this  evil 
of  tale-bearing,  and  back-biting.  If  you  go  at  first  in 
the  spirit  in  which  reproof  ought  to  be  administered, 
and  tell  your  erring  brother  his  fault  between  you  and 
him  alone,  you  may,  in  some  instances,  find  that  you 
were  mistaken — that  your  brother  is  not  guilty  in  the 
matter,  as  you  had  supposed;  and  then,  of  course, 
when  he  sets  you  right,you  cannot,  without  deep  guilt, 
go  about  speaking  of  his  fault  to  others  as  you  would 
have  been  tempted  to  do  before  you  saw  him,  and 
received  his  explanation.  Or,  if  you  find  that  your 
brother  is  actually  in  fault  to  the  whole  extent  that 
you  thought  him  to  be,  if  you  firmly  and  faithfully 
rebuke  him,  you  will  convince  him  of  his  sin,  lead 
him  to  repentance,  and  win  your  brother,  and  then 
with  what  face  can  you  go  about  talking  to  others  of 
his  faults?  You  could  not  have  a  heart  to  publish  a 
penitent,  reclaimed  brother's  sins?     The  very  spirit 


CHRISTIAN  REPROOF.  149 

of  Christian  reproof  would  forbid  this,  and  lead  you 
rather  to  desire  to  conceal  his  faults,  and  to  shield 
and  sustain  his  reputation.  The  heavenly  spirit  of 
Christian  rebuke,  and  that  hellish  malignity  that  is 
gratified  to  receive  and  circulate  reports  injurious  to 
the  character  of  a  fellow  Christian,  can  never  co-exist 
in  the  same  heart.  Let  all  Christians  perform  faith- 
fully the  duty  of  reproof  in  the  right  spirit,  and  there 
will  be  no  temptation  to  the  diabolical  work  of  tale- 
bearing and  back-biting.  The  evil  would  cease  in 
our  churches,  or  become  so  rare  that  the  accuser  and 
calumniator  of  his  brethren  would  be  regarded  with 
a  righteous  abhorrence  as  doing  the  work  of  his  father 
the  devil,  and  be  brought  under  the  discipline  of  the 
church,  and  excluded  from  its  peaceful  and  holy 
communion. 

IV.  The  only  other  happy  effect  of  the  faithful 
performance  of  this  duty,  which  I  shall  now  notice,  is, 
that  it  will  promote  amongst  Christians  a  spirit 
of  brotherly  love  and  prayer  fulness  for  each  other. 

To  be  convinced  of  this  we  have  only  to  contem- 
plate the  state  of  mind  with  which  Christian  reproof 
is  administered,  and  the  state  of  mind  which,  when 
successful,  it  produces  in  him  to  whom  it  is  adminis- 
tered. 

The  reprover  goes  to  the  offending  brother  in  a 
tender,  meek  spirit — with  sincere  love  for  his  soul, 
and  benevolent,  ardent  desires  to  promote  his  spiri- 
tual welfare,  and  kindly  tells  that  brother  of  his  sin, 
pleads  with  him  to  repent  and  turn  from  it,  and  to 
come  again,  pardoned,  and  accepted,  to  the  bosom  of 
his  God.  The  offender  feels  that  all  this  is  done  in 
brotherly  kindness, — done  in  love  to  him,  and  for 

13* 


150  ADVANTAGES  OF 

his  highest  good,  and  he  is  convinced  of  his  sin — his 
heart  is  broken  under  the  tender  remonstrances  of 
his  brother, — he  is  delivered  from  the  spell  of  sin — 
feels  anew^  the  love  and  peace  of  God  returning  to 
his  soul,  and  cannot  but  be  grateful  to  the  one  by 
whose  faithful  rebukes  he  has  been  thus  restored. 
Now  will  not  these  two  men  be  knit  together  more 
closely  than  ever,  in  the  bonds  of  brotherly  love? 
Is  there  not  a  foundation  thus  laid  for  a  more  en- 
deared attachment  between  them,  in  all  subsequent 
time?  Will  they  ever  cease  to  pray  for  each  other, 
and  to  sympathize  with  each  other  in  the  trials 
and  conflicts  of  the  Christian  life?  Now  what  is 
true  of  the  case  of  these  two  individuals,  would  be 
true  of  all  the  instances  in  a  church  where  Christian 
rebuke  is  properly  administered,  and  kindly  re- 
ceived !  What  a  blessed  consequence  of  the  faithful 
performance  of  this  duty!  How  it  would  assist  in 
"  keeping  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bonds  of 
peace  " — in  banishing  prejudice,alienation  and  hatred 
— in  promoting  brotherly  kindness,  and  charity,  and 
in  bringing  the  power  of  affectionate,  fervent,  effec- 
tual prayer  to  bind  the  whole  church  fast  to  the 
throne  of  God,  and  more  firmly  to  each  other,  in 
"  the  love  of  the  Spirit." 

To  conclude.  Christian  brethren,  how  far  have 
we  been  faithful  in  the  performance  of  the  duty  of 
true.  Christian  reproof?  Have  we  endeavoured  ha- 
bitually, and  conscientiously,  to  perform  this  duty 
toward  all  our  brethren  whom  we  know  to  be  in 
fault?  Are  there  not  some  professing  Christians, 
who  have  never,  since  they  were  first  connected 
with  the  church,  made  one  serious  attempt  to  rebuke 
an  erring  brother?     They  plead  as  an  apology  for 


1 

I 


CHRISTIAN  REPROOF.  151 

this  grievous  delinquency,  that  they  are  deterred 
from  the  duty  by  a  delicate  and  deep  sense  of  their 
own  faults. 

But  it  may  be  asked  whether  such  professing 
Christians  are  so  sensible  of  their  own  faults  that 
they  never  talk  about  the  faults  of  a  brother  to 
others?  If  they  are  not,  then  their  sensibility  is  of 
the  wrong  kind,  and  it  will  be  no  excuse  before  God 
or  man  for  their  neglect  of  the  solemn  duty  of  faith- 
ful Christian  reproof  No  finite  mind  can  compute, 
and  no  language  adequately  describe  the  disastrous 
results  to  the  church  of  the  prevalent,  and  almost 
total  neglect  of  this  duty.  A  most  lamentable  reck- 
lessness characterizes  the  members  of  various  com- 
munions respecting  each  other's  spiritual  welfare. 
Amongst  some  professors  of  religion,  there  seems  to 
be  no  conscientious,  holy  fear  of  offending  God,  nor 
injuring  a  fellow  Christian  by  neglecting  this  duty; 
whilst  without  scruple  they  take  up  evil  reports 
against  each  other,  and  circulate  them  industriously, 
without  ever  going  to  the  individual  criminated,  and 
inquiring  into  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  that,  to  which 
they  give  currency.  This  is  the  way  "  to  bite  and 
devour  one  another,  and  to  be  consumed  one  of  ano- 
ther!" 

Christian  brethren,  "these  things  ought  not  so  to 
be."  Have  a  care  for  your  brother's  soul,  next  to 
that  for  your  own. 

It  is  only  when  Christians  awake  to  the  infinite 
importance,  and  gird  themselves  in  earnest  for  the 
faithful,  and  persevering  performance  of  this  duty, 
that  the  light  of  the  church  shall  be  ''  as  the  light  of 
seven  days  in  one,"  her  "peace  as  a  river,''  and  her 
"  righteousness  as  an  overflowing  stream." 


152  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 


SERMON  VIII. 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.* 

"  But  as  we  were  allowed  of  God  to  be  put  in  trust  with  the  gospel, 
even  so  we  speak ;  not  as  pleasing  men,  but  God,  which  trieth 
our  hearts." — 1  Thessalonians,  ii.  4. 

It  required  no  ordinary  strength  of  Christian  cha- 
racter, and  no  common  measure  of  moral  courage,  to 
enable  the  apostle  Paul,  under  all  the  virulent  attacks 
made  upon  him  in  different  places,  to  retain  such  a 
degree  of  public  confidence  in  his  integrity,  as  caused 
him  still  to  prosecute  the  work  of  the  ministry  with 
marked  success.  That  it  was  the  combination  of 
these  two  elements — strength  of  Christian  character 
and  moral  courage — by  which,  under  God,  he  sus- 
tained himself  in  the  confidence  of  the  irreligious 
themselves,  is  apparent  from  his  declaration,  that 
"  by  manifestation  of  the  truth,  he  coinmended  him- 
self to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God.^^ 
He  knew  that  in  every  bosom  he  had  a  witness  that 

*  A  Sermon  delivered  before  the  West  Hanover  Presbytery,  Oct. 
ii5,  1835,  at  the  ordination  of  the  Rev.  B.  M.  Smith.  Some  remarks 
in  the  close  of  this  Sermon,  are  applicable  only  to  certain  latitudes  of 
our  country.  The  temporal  support  of  ministers  in  some  places,  is 
sufficiently  liberal. 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  153 

would  secretly  testify  in  his  favour.  And  rising 
above  the  repeated  assaults  of  prejudice,  envy  and 
malice,  he  carried  his  appeal  to  the  throne  of  con- 
science, and  challenged  it,  as  in  the  sight  of  Heaven, 
to  decide  upon  his  Christian  integrity.  In  the  com- 
mencement of  the  chapter  from  which  our  text  is 
taken,  he  makes  such  an  appeal  to  the  Thessalonians  : 
— "  For  yourselves,  brethren,  know  our  entrance  in 
unto  you,  that  it  was  not  in  vain.  But  after  that,  we 
had  suffered  before,  and  were  shamefully  entreated 
at  Philippi,  we  were  hold  in  our  God,  to  speak  unto 
you  the  gospel  of  God  with  much  contention." 
And  he  then  refers  it  to  them  to  decide  whether  he 
had  not  a  good  reason  for  such  boldness.  ^' For  our 
exhortation  was  not  of  deceit,  nor  of  uncleanness,  nor 
in  guile."  There  was  no  intrigue — no  adroit  accom- 
modation of  his  message  to  the  depraved  passions  of 
men.  The  simple  story  of  his  ministry  amongst 
them  is  told  in  the  text: — "  But  as  we  were  allowed 
of  God  to  be  put  in  trust  with  the  gospel,  even  so  we 
speak;  not  as  pleasing  men,  but  God,  which  trieth 
our  hearts." 

These  words  suggest  to  us  the  following  topics  of 
discussion: 

I.  The  source  from  which  the  ministry  of  the 
gospel  is  derived. 

II.  That  the  gospel,  thus  committed  to  the  mi- 
nistrjT-,  is  a  great  trust. 

III.  The  manner  in  which  the  gospel  ought  to 
be  preached. 

IV".  The  sanction  here  introduced  to  secure  such 
preaching. 

According  to  the  plan  now  sketched  to  govern  our 


154  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

train  of  thought  on  this  subject,  we  are  first  to 
notice  the  source /rom  which  the  ministry  of  the 
gospel  is  derived — "  But  as  we  were  allowed  of  God 
to  be  put  in  trust  with  the  orospe]." 

Here  the  apostle  refers  directly  to  God,  as  the 
source  from  which  the  ministerial  office  is  derived. 
And  we  may  learn  from  the  frequency  with  which 
he  made  this  reference,  that  it  is  a  matter  of  grave 
moment  that  the  conviction  of  this  truth  should  be 
vividly  and  permanently  impressed  on  the  minds  of 
men.  It  pertains  to  God  alone  to  institute  an  order 
of  men  to  whom  shall  be  committed  such  a  trust  as 
the  gospel  of  his  kingdom.  God  claimed  this  prero- 
gative in  the  original  institution  of  the  ministry.  In 
the  economy  of  the  ancient  church,  the  designation 
of  the  priesthood  was  a  matter  of  direct  revelation 
from  heaven,  God  himself  selecting  the  individuals 
to  office,  as  in  the  case  of  Aaron  and  his  sons — di- 
recting the  rites  of  their  inauguration,  and  sanc- 
tioning and  presiding  at  the  solemnities.  Under  the 
former  dispensation,  the  sacredness  with  which  he 
guarded  the  holy  office  from  intrusion,  is  one  of  the 
most  prominent  and  striking  facts  in  its  history. 
When  Jesus  Christ  came  to  establish  the  order  of  the 
new  dispensation,  he  chose  the  apostles,  and  formally 
ordained  and  consecrated  them  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  He  gave  them,  on  his  own  authority,  di- 
rections to  ordain  others  in  every  place  where  the 
gospel  should  be  embraced,  and  thus  to  settle  the 
succession  of  the  ministry  till  the  end  of  time:  for 
those  ministers  whom  the  apostles  ordained  were 
directed  on  the  authority  of  inspiration,  in  their  turn, 
to  invest  other  faithful  men  with  the  same  office;  so 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  155 

that  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  now,  as  much  as  ever, 
is  in  fact  derived  from  God.  It  is  God  still,  who, 
through  the  authority  which  he  has  vested  in  the  ex- 
isting ministry,  allows  men  to  be  put  in  trust  with 
the  gospel.  And  to  prevent  all  misapprehension  on 
this  subject,  he  has  incorporated  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment the  following  explicit  declaration:  ^' No  man 
taketh  this  honour  to  himself,  except  he  be  called  of 
God,  as  was  Aaron.''  It  would  seem  that  God  had 
bestowed  special  care  to  impress  on  the  minds  of  men 
the  source  from  which  the  ministry  is  derived,  in  an- 
ticipation of  the  times  which  we,  in  these  last  days, 
have  fallen  upon.  There  is,  at  present,  a  tendency 
to  view  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  in  quite  a  different 
light  from  that  in  which  it  is  presented  in  the  oracles 
of  God — an  evident  tendency  to  sever  from  it  that 
authority  and  sacred ness  imparted  to  it  by  the  con- 
sideration that  it  comes  from  Jehovah — that  it  is  no 
human  institution  which  may  be  submitted  to  or  re- 
sisted according  to  the  caprice  of  men.  We  are 
aware  that  wicked  men  feel  as  though  they  had  a 
personal  interest  in  promoting  loose  and  degrading 
views  of  this  holy  oflice.  It  would  greatly  quiet 
their  tumultuating  consciences,  could  they  bring 
themselves  to  contemplate  the  ministry  stripped  of 
its  sacredness  and  its  sanctions  as  derived  from  the 
God  of  the  universe.  It  would  accord  well  with  the 
modern  spirit  of  agrarianism  and  atheistic  specula- 
tion, to  rob  the  holy  office  of  the  solemnities  and  the 
glory  of  its  divine  origin,  and  make  it  a  mere  secular 
profession  or  a  part  of  the  imposing  machinery  of 
priestcraft.  Hence,  the  virulent  attacks  which  mo- 
dern infidelity  and  atheism  have  made  on  the  mi- 


156  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

nistry — evincing  clearly  that  it  is  its  claims  of  a  de- 
rivation from  God  which  makes  it  a  terror  to  the 
guilty  conscience,  and  a  troublesome  barrier  in  the 
way  of  those  who  are  bent  upon  universal  skepticism 
and  licentiousness.  Could  they,  in  their  own  minds, 
annihilate  its  relation  to  the  instituting  authority  of 
the  Eternal,  then  they  know  that  they  could  easily 
break  those  bands  asunder,  and  cast  away  those  cords 
by  which  the  living  ministry  binds  them  to  the  fear- 
ful forebodings  of  their  final  destiny.  It  is  well  for 
us  then  to  recur  to  this  great  and  primary  relation 
of  the  gospel  ministry — its  direct  derivation  from  Je- 
hovah. God  has  given  it  a  peculiar  prominence  in 
his  holy  word,  and  he  intends  that  it  shall  have  a 
commanding  prominence  in  the  practical  judgments 
of  men.  He  intends  that  the  world  shall  respect  and 
reverence  this  office,  which,  notwithstanding  the  un- 
worthiness  of  some  of  its  incumbents,  has  the  awful 
sanction  and  authority  of  originating  in  the  counsels 
of  his  own  infinite  mind!  He  intends  to  write  it 
out  as  in  characters  of  lightning,  that  "  whosoever 
resisteth,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God^  and  he 
therefore  that  despiseth,  despiseth  not  man,  but 
God,  and  shall  bear  his  judgment  whosoever  he  be." 
II.  We  are  now  prepared,  in  the  second  place,  to 
notice  that  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  thus  committed 
to  men,  constitutes  an  unspeakably  great  trust. 
The  very  fact  that  it  is  derived  from  God,  and  wears 
his  seal  and  sanction,  imparts  to  it  a  character  of 
greatness  which  attaches  to  no  other  trust  confided 
to  man.  On  this  we  cannot  now  dwell,  but  must  pass 
to  the  consideration  of  the  greatness  of  this  trust,  as 
illustrated,  first,  by  the  influence  which  the  ministry 
exerts  on  the  intellectual  condition  of  men. 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  157 

A  well  qualified  ministry  never  has  failed,  and 
never  will  fail  to  exert  a  great  influence  on  the  in- 
tellectual character  of  society.  All  who  deserve  the 
name  of  ministers  have  been  the  patrons  of  learning, 
and  the  promoters  of  the  mental  improvement  of 
mankind.  But  to  say  nothing  of  this,  nor  of  the 
fact  that  many  of  them  have  been  distinguished 
amongst  the  literati  of  their  times,  and  that  most  of 
them  have  acquired  a  taste  for  literary  pursuits,  and 
possessed  an  intellectual  character  whose  light  could 
not  be  hid,  the  direct  exercise  of  the  functions  of  the 
ministry  must  have  a  great  influence  on  the  mind  of 
society.  Think,  Aoi^^e^'we^^/y  the  exhibitions  of 
the  pulpit  are  brought  to  bear  on  the  intellect  of 
the  people.  At  least  one  day  in  seven  is  principally 
devoted  to  these  exhibitions.  That,  too,  a  day  when 
the  general  mind  is  in  a  most  favourable  state  for  im- 
pression— a  day  of  repose  from  the  cares  and  toils  of 
life,  from  the  absorbing  disquietudes  of  business, 
when  men  can  pause  and  allow  themselves  time  to 
think. 

This  will  make  one  whole  year  in  every  seven 
devoted  to  those  instructions  from  the  pulpit,  which, 
if  they  are  what  they  ought  to  be,  will  bear  evidence 
of  nice  investigation,  patient  thought,  close  reason- 
ing, profound  research;  will  be  of  a  creditable  in- 
tellectual character.  This,  together  with  the  variety 
of  subjects  that  will  be  presented,  will  furnish  in 
every  seven  years  of  human  life,  a  great  amount  of 
instruction — a  vast  array  of  influence  on  the  mass 
of  mind.  And  when  we  contemplate  the  sublime 
range  of  those  truths  embraced  in  such  instructions, 
and  reflect  that  they  are  the  mighty  truths  of  God — 
14 


158  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

truths  that  relate  to  His  being  and  perfections — to 
the  works  of  His  creation  through  the  universe  of 
matter  and  of  mind — to  His  relations  to  man  and  to 
the  rational  creation — to  the  character,  duties,  and 
destinies  of  our  race — truths  that  indicate  a  boundless 
hereafter  and  point  out  eternity  to  man,  we  may  well 
accord  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  an  influence  in- 
calculably great  on  the  intellectual  character  of  our 
species.     All  history  has  fully  attested  this  fact.     In 
Christian    nations,  the    intellectual  progress  of  the 
people  has  always  been  graduated  by  the  degree  of 
intelligence  and  mental  culture  found  in  the  ministry. 
And  the  long  night  of  the  dark  ages  would  never 
have  settled  down  upon  the  world,  had  not  "^ros* 
darkness  "  first  covered  those  who  officiated  at  the 
altars  of  religion.     What  an  intellectual  transforma- 
tion has  been  effected  amongst  a  people,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  almost  all  other  causes,  by  the  influence  of 
a  learned  and  able  ministry !     How  many  are  the 
instances  under  such  a  ministry,  of  a  people  waking 
up  from  prevalent  ignorance,  starting  into  intellectual 
life,  and  becoming  an  intelligent,  reasoning,  thinking 
community!     What  great  and  lasting  revolutions  in 
the  empire  of  mind  have  owed  their  origin  to  a  well 
sustained  pulpit!     Now  when  we   regard   the   hu- 
man mind  in  its  more  august  attributes  as  rational 
and  immortal,  possessing   capabilities  of  an  indefi- 
nite expansion  and  an  eternal  progression  in  know- 
ledge, and  then  think  of  the  ministry  of  the  gospel 
simply  in  its   influence  on  the  intellectual  condi- 
tion of  man,  it  strikes  us  as  an  unspeakably  great 
trust  committed  to  mortals.     They  who  exercise  its 
functions,  wield  an  element  of  tremendous  power  on 
the  mental  destinies  of  the  race. 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  159 

But  the  greatness  of  this  trust  will  appear,  in  the 
second  place,  from  the  injluence  of  the  ministry 
on  the  RELIGIOUS  opinions  of  men.  It  is  true,  that 
no  Protestants  are  dependent  exclusively  on  the 
teachings  of  the  ministry  for  their  religious  opinions. 
They  have  free  access  to  the  pure  oracles  of  God, 
and  are  required  by  Divine  authority  to  judge  for 
themselves.  This  is  the  glory  of  Presbyterianism, 
that  it  claims  the  right  of  free  inquiry  and  untram- 
melled conscience  for  itself,  and  accords  the  same  to  all 
others.  That  officious  impudence  of  infidelity,  which 
arrogates  to  itself  the  credit  of  the  establishment  and 
subsequent  guardianship  of  the  righls  of  conscience 
and  religious  liberty  in  this  country,  ought  to  be  ex- 
posed to  merited  rebuke.  Presbyterian  argument 
and  eloquence  have  had  much  more  to  do  in  this 
matter  than  infidel  disinterestedness  and  liberality.'^ 
But  to  return  from  this  digression.  It  is  still  true, 
that  notwithstanding  all  the  sources  of  information 
that  lie  open  to  the  people,  and  all  the  freedom  of 
opinion  which  they  enjoy,  the  ministry  of  the  gos- 
pel does  exert  a  commanding  influence  on  the  views 
which  men  take  of  all  the  great  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity. This  throws  upon  those  who  are  allowed 
of  God  to  be  put  in  trust  with  the  gospel,  an  un- 
utterably solemn  responsibility.  They  will  influence, 
and  mainly  form  the  opinions  of  a  multitude  of 
ininds  respecting  the  character  of  God  himself,  and 

*  As  a  proof  of  this,  it  may  be  proper  to  remark,  that  the  cele- 
brated bill  of  religious  toleration  and  rights  of  conscience,  which 
was  passed  in  the  House  of  Delegates  in  Virginia,  was  copied 
almost  verbatim  from  the  memorials  on  that  subject  which  the 
fathers  of  the  Hanover  Presbytery  had  previously  addressed  to 
that  body. 


160  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

of  the  great  principles  of  his  moral  government. 
The  Divine  character  will  appear  to  those  minds  just 
as  the  ministry  present  it.  If  those  who  sustain  the  sa- 
cred office,  have  correct,  enlarged,  and  exalted  views 
of  the  attributes  of  Jehovah,  they  will  mould  the  opi- 
nions of  the  people  accordingly.  The  great  mass  of 
minds  around  them  will  contemplate  the  infinite  God 
just  as  their  ministers  do;  so  that  God  has  committed 
to  the  ministry  the  amazing  trust  of  making  an  ex- 
hibition of  his  own  character  to  men,  which  shall 
have  a  decisive  control  over  their  opinions.  The 
ministry  will  have  a  like  influence  on  the  opinions 
of  men  respecting  the  moral  government  of  God. 
If  ministers  understand  the  great  principles  of  that 
government,  and  exhibit  it  as  a  government  of 
righteous  law  over  free  moral  agents,  administered 
by  rewards  and  punishments — frowning  upon  sin, 
and  encouraging  holiness — investing  God  with  a 
glorious  sovereignty,  and  binding  men  to  a  perfect 
and  perpetual  obedience,  as  their  reasonable  service, 
such  will  be  the  views,  such  the  religious  belief  of  iho 
people. 

The  power  of  the  ministry  over  the  opinions  of 
men  respecting  the  great  plan  of  salvation,  cannot  be 
contemplated  without  awe.  The  chief  business  of 
the  ambassadors  of  Christ  is  to  unfold  and  explain 
this  stupendous  scheme.  So  intimately  is  this  scheme 
blended  with  the  whole  of  revelation,  and  identified 
with  all  the  immortal  interests  of  man,  that  our 
opinions  respecting  it  are  of  vital  moment.  To  mi- 
nisters of  the  gospel,  as  the  authorized  expounders  of 
this  plan,  the  people  look  with  unmeasured  confi- 
dence. On  ministers  devolves  the  fearful  responsibili- 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  161 

ty  of  moulding  the  opinions  of  the  community  re- 
specting this  great  device  of  the  Godhead;  a  device 
which  brings  out  from  the  retirements  of  eternity  a 
new  attribute  of  Jehovah,  and  presents  his  character 
to  the  universe  in  a  new  aspect  of  glory;  a  device 
which  sheds  new  light  on  the  laws  and  administra- 
tion of  his  moral  kingdom — attracts  the  scrutiny  of 
angels,  and  involves  the  interests  and  the  destinies 
of  the  human  race  through  the  whole  duration  of 
their  being.  Now  the  religious  opinion  of  men  on  a 
subject  of  such  transcendent  importance  as  this,  will 
be  just  what  the  ministry  choose  to  make  it — a 
sound  and  correct  opinion,  or  "a  damnable  heresy''^ 

The  religious  opinions  of  men  respecting  their 
own  character  and  condition,  will  also  be  material- 
ly influenced  by  the  ministry.  Their  views  of  the 
nature  and  extent  of  their  depravity — of  the  intrinsic 
turpitude  and  malignity  of  their  sins — of  their  moral 
ruin — of  their  exposure  to  eternal  wrath — of  their 
need  of  a  Saviour — of  their  obligation  to  repent  and 
believe  the  gospel — of  the  inexcusableness  of  their 
impenitence  and  rebellion — of  the  unspeakable  im- 
portance of  an  immediate  interest  in  all  the  bless- 
ings of  salvation;  their  views  on  all  these  matters, 
of  such  practical,  such  vital  moment  to  them,  will  be 
moulded — nay,  entirely  controlled  by  the  living  mi- 
nistry. As  a  fact  in  the  history  of  the  world,  it  cannot 
be  disputed  but  that  the  ministers  of  religion  have 
mainly  controlled  the  opinions  of  mankind  on  the 
whole  scheme  of  Christianity.  And  there  are  obvious 
reasons  why  it  has  been  so,  and  will  be  so  while  such 
an  order  of  religious  functionaries  exists.  The  solemn 
authority  associated  with  their  office — the  means  of 
14* 


m 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 


information  to  which  they  have  access — the  degree 
of  laborious  research  and  investigation  which  they 
are  enabled  to  bestow  on  these  subjects  beyond  what 
is  possible  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people — the  strong 
sympathies  between  their  hearers  and  themselves, 
resulting  from  the  pastoral  relation,  and  the  com- 
manding influence  of  the  living  voice  in  oral  instruc- 
tion, will  always  put  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy  a 
power  of  controlling  the  religious  opinions  of  men, 
which  may  be  plied  with  tremendous  effect  either 
for  edification  or  destruction.  Now  if  the  influence 
of  the  ministry  on  the  intellectual  condition  of 
society  constitutes  it  a  solemn  trust,  what  shall  we 
say  of  its  immeasurable  power  on  the  religious 
opinions  of  man?  If  it  be  an  agency  of  great  re- 
sponsibilities, viewed  simply  in  its  influence  on  the 
intellectual  character,  and  as  having  to  do  with  the 
powers  of  thought  and  mental  action  on  ordinary 
subjects,  how  shall  we  estimate  the  greatness  of  this 
trust  which  puts  into  the  grasp  of  the  ministry  the 
reins  of  the  immortal  mind,  to  guide  its  movements 
in  the  formation  of  its  opinions  on  all  the  stupendous 
subjects  of  revealed  religion  ! 

That  the  ministry  is  an  unspeakably  great  trust  will 
appear,  in  the  third  place j  if  we  notice  its  relation 
as  an  instrumentality  in  the  conversion  of  souls 
and  the  formation  of  Christian  character.  There 
is  no  revolution  in  the  dominions  of  mind  so  great,  or 
connected  with  consequences  of  such  magnitude  and 
eternal  interest,  as  the  conversion  of  the  soul.  This 
event  constitutes  the  most  sublime  moral  transition 
that  a  soul  can  make — an  escape  from  that  awful 
aggregation  of  evils,  present  and  future,  to  which  it 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  163 

is  liable  by  the  apostacy — a  reinstatement  in  the 
favour  of  God  here,  and  an  ultimate  exaltation  to  all 
those  high  destinies  of  its  eternal  being  for  which  it 
was  originally  formed.  The  instrumentality  that 
stands  related  to  such  an  event,  is  an  incalculably 
great  and  solemn  instrumentality.  And  now  what 
is  the  influence  of  the  ministry  on  the  conversion  of 
souls?  Hath  not  God  settled  it  in  his  word,  that  this 
is  the  principal  instrumentality  which  He  employs 
in  eflecting  this  wonderful  change  on  the  fallen 
mind?  "It  hath  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of 
preaching^^  (when  Tnen  do  not  render  it  foolish) 
"to  save  them  that  believe."  "We  preach  Christ 
crucified,  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth."  Now 
we  undervalue  no  subsidiary  means  of  converting 
men,  when  we  affirm,  that  God  has  made  the  mi- 
nistry the  very  mainspring  in  that  wonderful  mecha- 
nism of  moral  influence  by  which  he  is  recovering  a 
revolted  world  to  himself  It  comes  as  an  embassy 
from  the  skies,  to  a  province  in  rebellion  against  its 
righteous  moral  governor.  To  the  ministry,  God 
has  confided  the  great  agency  of  treating  with  a  guil- 
ty world  in  its  disobedience,  and  of  beseeching  it  to 
be  reconciled  to  him  through  the  expiation  of  a  Re- 
deemer's blood.  This  is  the  instrumentality  which 
he  has  principally  owned  in  the  conversion  of  the 
millions  that  have  already  been  redeemed  from 
amongst  men.  It  is  the  mighty  agency  by  which 
God  designs  principally  to  convert  all  the  myriads 
that  shall  swell  the  mediatorial  triumphs  of  His  Son 
during  the  millennium,  and  till  the  close  of  time.  Ji 
faithful  m^inistry  is  the  world's  strongest  hold  on 
the  hopes  and  the  joys  of  an  eternal  heaven.     Now, 


164  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

if  we  saw  a  class  of  men  to  whom  God  had  commit- 
ted the  influence  or  instrumentality  by  which  He 
revolutionizes  empires  and  worlds,  producing  the 
most  stupendous  political  and  physical  changes,  we 
would  consider  them  as  having  a  great  and  solemn 
trust.  But  what  shall  we  think  of  the  men  in  whose 
hands  is  an  instrumentality  having  an  immediate 
connexion  with  the  work  of  revolutionizing  the  im- 
mortal mind — effecting  the  most  amazing  change  in 
the  condition  and  moral  relations  of  the  undying 
soul — raising  man  from  the  curse  and  the  woes  of 
his  present  thraldom  in  sin,  to  the  bliss  and  the  rap- 
tures of  an  inheritance,  a  crown  and  a  throne  fadeless, 
and  eternal  in  the  heavens?  What  an  unutterably 
great  trust  is  this! 

Next  in  importance  to  the  conversion  of  the  soul, 
is  the  religious  character  to  which  it  shall  be  formed, 
here,  in  the  land  of  its  moral  discipline  and  proba- 
tion. And  we  maintain  that  the  ministry  has  al- 
ways had,  and  will  always  have,  the  principal  influ- 
ence in  forming  religious  character.  The  reasons 
of  tliis  are  too  obvious  to  need  even  a  passing  no- 
tice. "Like  priest  like  people"  is  an  adage  whose 
truth  is  illustrated  in  every  page  of  the  history  of 
God's  church  on  earth.  On  ministers  rests  the  re- 
sponsibility of  making  the  religious  character  of  the 
people  what  it  is.  Ministers  have  the  trust  commit- 
ted to  them  of  forming  a  people  for  God — of  mould- 
ing the  moral  character  of  the  age  in  which  they  live 
— of  laying  strong  hold,  by  their  example,  on  the 
power  of  imitation  in  the  people — of  elevating  the 
standard  of  piety — of  urging  to  "  deeds  of  noble  da- 
ring," in  the  cause  of  a  sinking  world — of  impressing 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  165 

the  mass  of  Christian  mind  with  the  lineaments  of  true 
greatness — and  of  impelling  it  to  high  and  infinite 
aspirations  after  glory,  and  honour,  and  immortality. 

The  guardianship  of  that  character  and  usefulness 
which  constitutes  "the  salt  of  the  earth" — the 
grand  conservative  principle  of  fallen,  j^et  social  hu- 
man nature — and  the  early  culture  of  those  august 
principles  of  regenerated  man,  which  are  to  fit  him 
for  the  adoration  and  praise,  the  purity,  and  love, 
and  unliring  benevolence  of  heaven,  are  a  part  of  the 
trust  in  the  hands  of  the  ministry.  Who  will  at- 
tempt to  compute  the  greatness  of  such  a  trust! 

Its  greatness  will  appear  once  more,  if  we  contem- 
plate the  connexion  of  the  ministry  with  the  iini- 
versed  diffusion  of  the  gospel  in  the  world.  To 
the  ministers  of  the  New  Testament,  the  original 
command  of  the  Redeemer  was  given — -"Go  ye  into 
all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture.'' For  the  fulfilment  of  this  command,  which 
contemplates  the  mightiest  interests  of  our  race,  the 
world  has  a  right  to  look  primarily  to  the  ministry. 
The  responsibility  of  its  fulfilment  rests  mainly  on 
those  who  bear  the  sacred  office.  Their  character 
and  spirit,  their  instructions  and  efforts,  are  insepara- 
bly connected  with  the  far  extended  and  universal 
interests  of  Messiah's  kingdom  on  earth.  Their  in- 
fluence will  be  felt  with  decisive  effect  on  the  wheels 
of  the  Redeemer's  triumphant  car,  as  He  "rides  forth 
prosperously,  conquering  and  to  conquer."  In  that 
grand  system  of  influence  which  God  has  organized 
to  propagate  the  gospel  universally,  the  ministry 
constitutes  the  Iieart,  whose  quick  and  strong  pulsa- 
tions are  to  propel  the  warm  currents  of  spiritual 
life  to  the  extremities  of  the  globe.     God  has  com- 


166  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

mitted  to  ministers  an  agency  which  tells  directly 
on  this  stupendous  result.  There  is  no  other  agency 
located  on  earth  of  such  momentous  bearings.  God 
has  principally  confided  to  the  hands  of  ministers 
the  moral  interests  of  the  world,  till  the  end  of  time. 
Angels  have  no  such  trust.  They  only  follow  in  the 
train  of  ministerial  influence  here  on  earth, — perform- 
ing their  unseen  offices  of  love  to  those  who  are  made 
"the  heirs  of  salvation  "  by  that  influence.  They 
have  not  the  dire  responsibility  of  wielding  that  in- 
strumentality which  is  connected  with  the  univer- 
sal diffusion  of  the  gospel — which  is  yet  to  rid  earth 
of  the  curse,  and  redeem  its  future  millions  from  the 
woes  of  the  great  moral  overthrow  in  Eden. 

Now  look  at  the  influence  of  the  ministry  on  man  in 
all  the  higher  relations  and  interests  of  his  mortal  and 
immortal  being — its  influence  on  his  intellectual  ha- 
bitudes and  condition — its  control  over  his  religious 
opinions — its  instrumentality  in  the  conversion  of 
his  soul,  and  its  formative  power  over  his  religious 
character;  look  at  it  in  its  bearings  on  the  universal 
spread  of  the  gospel — in  its  amazing  agency  on  those 
sublime  results  of  millennial  glory  yet  to  be  realized 
in  our  world — and  we  may  add,  in  its  consequences 
on  the  eternal  joys  of  the  righteous,  and  the  eternal 
woes  of  the  wicked,  to  whom  it  has  been  '"'a  savour 
of  life  unto  life  or  of  death  unto  death, '^  as  those  conse- 
quences shall  beunfolded  in  heaven  and  in  hell  forever, 
and  say,  can  human  language  express  the  greatness  of 
such  a  trust?  Can  human  hearts  sustain  themselves 
under  such  an  exceedingand  infinite  weight  of  respon- 
sibility? "Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?"  I 
sometimes  wonder  that  there  is  a  thoughtful  mind  on 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  167 

earth  willing  to  take  upon  itself  such  a  trust.  Na- 
tive strength  and  mortal  spirits  would  utterly  fail  and 
sink  beneath  it,  were  it  not  for  that  consoling  as- 
surance of  Jesus  Christ — '^ My  grace  is  sufficient 
for  thecP 

III.  We  now  hasten  to  notice  briefly  the  third  ge- 
neral topic  of  this  discourse,  viz.,  The  manner  in 
which  the  gospel  thus  committed  as  so  sacred  a 
trusty  is  to  be  preached.  "  But  as  we  were  allowed 
of  God  to  be  put  in  trust  with  the  gospel,  even  SO 
tve  speak.''  This  particle  "  .so,"  indicates  a  relation 
ofagreement  or  proportion  with  some  thing  or  things 
which  precede.  These,  you  will  observe,  are  the 
two  facts  on  which  we  have  dwelt — the  origiii  of 
the  ministry  as  coming  from  God,  and  the  great 
trust  which  it  constitutes.  The  manner  of  preach- 
ing, then,  must  be  such  as  to  correspond  with  these 
momentous  and  over-awing  facts.  First,  the  gospel 
is  to  be  preached  under  a  deep  and  permanent  con- 
viction that  the  ministerial  office  is  derived  from 
God : — that  it  is  no  secular  profession — that  the  mi- 
nister's commission  comes  from  the  court  of  heaven 
under  the  great  seal  of  "  the  King  eternal,  immortal, 
and  invisible" — that  it  cannot  be  trifled  with  or  pros- 
tituted to  any  unworthy  ends,  without  a  degree  of 
guilt  that  might  appal  the  universe.  What  a  prac- 
tical effect  would  the  undying  conviction  of  this 
truth  produce  on  the  preaching  of  the  gospel! 
What  a  power  would  be  imparted  to  that  gospel, 
when  uttered  by  one  whose  mind  was  absorbed  with 
the  weighty  thought  that  he  had  received  his  office 
from  the  hands  of  the  infinite  Jehovah,  and  whose 
heart  was  dilated  and  throbbing  under  the/e//  solem- 


168  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

nities  of  such  a  commission!  How  could  such  a 
one  sink  into  a  heartless  round  of  mere  professional 
service — how  could  he  make  his  pulpit  the  place  for 
dealing  out  dry  speculations  or  stupid  commonplace, 
— while  the  letters  of  his  commission,  written  by  the 
finger  of  God,  and  burnt  in  upon  conscience  by  the 
lightnings  of  Divine  authority,  were  glittering  before 
the  eye  of  his  soul?  Secondly, — the  gospel  is  to 
be  preached  under  a  constant  and  engrossing  impression 

of  THE   GREATNESS  OF  THE  TRVST  IchicJl  it  COnstHuteS. 

The  ministry  must  not  be  regarded  as  a  mere  nega- 
tive agency,  that  may  be  executed  faithfully  or  ne- 
glected, and  the  world  be  but  little  the  better  or  the 
worse  for  it.  The  gospel  must  be  preached  with 
the  conviction  that  it  is  one  of  the  mightiest  moral 
elements  put  in  action  in  this  part  of  God's  universe, 
— that  when  wielded  properly,  it  will  do  "the  work 
of  tempests  in  their  might,''  in  prostrating  the  gi- 
gantic enmity  of  the  world  against  God — that  it  is 
the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  the  great  organ  insti- 
tuted of  God  for  bringing  back  this  revolted  globe  to 
ils  allegiance  to  Heaven — that  its  influence  is  to  be 
inwoven  with  all  the  salutary  changes  and  improve- 
ments in  the  intellectual  condition  and  destinies  of 
the  race — that  it  is  to  herald  in  all  the  great  revolu- 
tions in  the  empire  of  terrestrial  minds — that  it  is  to 
decide  the  religious  character  of  every  age,  and  to 
be  felt  in  all  the  influence  which  the  church  of  God 
shall  exert  on  a  dying  world.  Its  instrumentality 
is  infinitely  more  grand  and  awful  than  all  those 
mighty  agencies  of  matter  that  are  operating  through- 
out the  universe.  It  is  an  instrumentality  acting 
with  incalculable  effect  on  the  moral  character,  the 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  169 

hopes  and  prospects,  the  relations,  interests  and  eter- 
nal destinies  of  a  whole  race  of  God's  intelligent  sub- 
jects— an  instrumentality  inseparably  connected  with 
the  exhibitions  of  Christ's  mediatorial  glory  in  the 
universal  extension  and  splendours  of  the  kingdom 
of  his  Messiahship  here  on  earth,  and  with  the  efful- 
gence of  his  crown  and  his  throne  for  ever  in  the 
heavens.  Let  the  gospel  be  preached  under  a  deep 
conviction  that  it  constitutes  a  trust  like  this — that 
it  ranks  first  and  chief  amongst  all  those  vast  influ- 
ences bj^  which  the  great  God  is  carrying  on  to  its 
completion  the  scheme  of  his  eternal  mercy  to  a  lost 
world, — and  it  can  never  be  a  dead  letter.  The 
gospel  thus  preached  will  become  a  living  oracle — 
before  which  every  Dagon  on  earth  will  fall,  and  be 
dashed  in  pieces.  Uttered  from  a  heart  palpitating 
with  a  sense  of  the  greatness  of  the  trust,  it  will  come 
forth  in  the  resistlessness  of  its  primitive  sway,  anni- 
hilating the  impenitence  and  rebellion  of  the  world, 
substituting  in  their  stead  "the  obedience  of  the 
faith,"  and  giving  the  preparation  note  of  the  uni- 
versal hosannah  of  earth  at  its  consummated  re- 
demption. 

A  third  peculiarity  of  the  manner  of  preaching 
the  gospel,  as  stated  in  our  text,  is — "  not  as  pleasing 
TTze/i."  No,  verily!  Such  a  trust  is  not  to  be  trifled 
with,  and  prostituted  to  the  base  purpose  of  gaining 
a  short-lived  popularity,  by  flattering  the  vanity  and 
the  vices  of  ungodly  men.  How  can  a  minister, 
under  the  conviction  of  the  origin  of  his  office  as 
derived  from  Jehovah,  and  of  the  greatness  of  the 
trust  which  it  involves,  dare  to  degrade  the  glorious 
gospel,  by  withholding  or  distorting  its  truths,  to 
15 


170  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

accommodate  the  prejudices  and  corrupt  passions  of 
men?  What  has  he  to  do  with  the  perverted  taste 
of  the  wicked,  whose  moral  element  is  error?  God's 
command  is  to  proclaim  the  whole  truth,  with  all  the 
boldness  and  energy  which  the  view  of  the  facts 
that  have  been  noticed  inspires, — whether  sinners 
will  hear  or  whether  they  will  forbear.  He  must 
leave  the  consequences  with  God.  If  the  wicked 
are  driven  from  the  sanctuary  and  beyond  the  sphere 
of  the  influences  of  the  gospel,  by  a  kind  yet  firm 
and  uncompromising  declaration  of  the  whole  coun- 
sel of  God,  the  responsibility  is  theirs,  not  the  mi- 
nister's. And  an  awful  responsibility  that  will  be 
found  to  be,  in  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  may 
weep  over  them,  as  he  doubtless  will,  and  have  his 
hours  of  anguish  of  spirit  as  he  marks  their  down- 
ward and  accelerated  career  to  perdition,  when  they 
have  thus  severed  the  tie  that  bound  them  to  the 
means  of  grace;  but  at  the  peril  of  his  own  soul's 
eternal  salvation,  he  must  not  alter  nor  modify  his 
preaching  to  please  men.  There  must  be  no  com- 
promise: unblenching  fidelity  to  the  letter  of  his 
commission  —  a  godly  sincerity  in  preaching  the 
whole  truth,  witnessed  and  approved  b}^  beholding 
heaven,  must  mark  all  his  communications  to  guilty 
men.  The  question  how  such  a  doctrine  or  such  a 
precept  will  suit  unconverted  men  of  intelligence, 
wealth  and  influence  in  his  congregation,  he  must 
not  dare  agitate  for  a  moment,  lest  he  fall  under 
that  "fear  of  man  which  bringeth  a  snare."  0!  if 
every  pulpit,  since  the  ministry  has  been  instituted, 
had  teemed  with  such  preaching  as  this,  how  much 
more  blessed  had  this  sinning  and  sorrowful  world 
been  to-dnv  ! 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  171 

But  whilst  the  gospel  is  to  be  preached  "  not  as 
pleasing  men" — whilst  the  wicked  hate  and  revile 
him,  is  there  no  one  whom  the  minister,  reckless  of 
the  world's  applause,  and  fearless  and  faithful  in  his 
proclamation  of  truth,  may  desire  to  please?  Yes; 
for  the  Apostle  adds,  as  to  his  manner  of  preaching, 
"  not  as  pleasing  men,  hut  God.^^  Here  is  an  aim  suf- 
ficiently exalted  and  noble  to  correspond  with  the  sa- 
credness  of  the  office  in  its  divine  origin,  and  in  the 
greatness  of  the  trust  which  it  constitutes.  The 
gospel  is  to  be  preached  with  a  single  eye  to  pleasing 
God.  Let  this  be  the  constant,  unvarying  aim  of  the 
minister.  It  is  an  infinitely  worthy  one.  It  will 
have  a  most  happy  influence  on  the  character  and 
style  of  his  preaching.  Let  him  have  his  heart  set  on 
the  sole  object  of  "  commending  himself  to  God  mihe 
exercise  of  the  ministry.'^  Let  him  study,  and 
pray,  and  write  with  reference  to  this  end.  Let 
him  ask  himself,  in  every  duty  of  his  holy  office, 
*^  How  will  I  appear  now  in  the  sight  of  God  ?" 
Let  him  ask  himself  in  regard  to  every  view  of 
truth  which  he  is  about  to  present,  "  How  does  this 
accord  with  the  mind  of  God  ?  Will  this  be  pleasing 
to  the  God  of  truth?"  Let  him  ask,  in  regard  to 
the  spirit  with  which  he  finds  himself  approaching 
the  pulpit,  ^'  Have  1  now  the  mind  of  Christ ?^^ 
^^  Does  God  see  a  pleasing  harmony  between  the  state 
of  my  heart  and  the  deep  solemnities  of  the  message 
I  am  about  to  deliver?  Is  my  soul  in  such  a  state 
as  to  speak  the  truth  in  love,  in  tenderness,  in  meek- 
ness and  gentleness,  so  that  I  shall  please  a  God  of 
love  and  sincerity?" 

The  gospel,  preached   by  one  whose  eye  is  fixed 


173  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

only  on  the  approbation  of  God,  whose  heart  longs 
and  pants  only  for  the  honour  that  cometh  from 
above,  will  be  no  trifling  and  powerless  message. 
It  will  be  no  distorted  view  of  the  great  truths  of 
revelation;  no  garbled  extracts  from  "the  lively 
oracles,"  snatched  to  serve  the  mercenary  purposes 
of  sectarianism.  The  gospel,  preached  with  this 
high  aim  of  pleasing  God,  will  come  forth  in  its 
native  proportions,  in  its  celestial  symmetry,  and  will 
assert  that  sway  over  the  hopes  and  fears  and  affec- 
tions of  men,  which  it  has  sometimes  lost  by  the 
unsanctified  distortions  of  those  who  have  wrested  it 
to  the  purposes  of  a  party  or  a  system.  It  will  be- 
come "spirit  and  life;"  it  will  be  attended  with  an 
unction  and  an  emphasis  bespeaking  it  to  be  what  it  is 
in  truth,  the  word  of  God  and  not  of  man;  it  will 
stand  out  to  the  world  in  its  own  intrinsic  and 
"  eternal  weight  of  glory  !"  Now,  in  view  of  these 
august  and  glorious  characteristics  of  the  ministry 
and  of  the  manner  in  which  the  message  of  Heaven 
is  to  be  delivered,  by  what  name  shall  we  designate 
that  creature  in  priestly  garments,  who  desecrates  the 
pulpit  and  degrades  the  gospel,  by  making  it  nothing 
more  than  the  means  of  his  own  popularity  amongst 
the  wicked? — that  creature  who  can  mutilate  and 
pervert  the  eternal  truths  of  God,  and  commit  the 
sacrilege  of  stealing  fire  from  the  holy  altar  to  kindle 
and  inflame  those  unhallowed  principles  of  depraved 
humanity,  which  he  can  turn  to  his  account  in  the 
sum  of  his  ill-gotten  fame?  "  0 !  lives  there,  heaven, 
beneath  thy  dread  expanse,"  a  creature  whose  cup 
of  trembling  and  of  perdition  is  so  ready  to  overflow 
as  his?     Where  sleep  the  lightnings  of  retributive 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  173 

wrath,  that  they  break  not  forth  and  consume  him, 
while  the  censer  is  yet  in  his  hand,  in  which  he  is 
thus  burning  incense  to  his  own  vanity? 

IV.  But  let  us  inquire  for  a  moment,  in  the  fourth 
and  last  place.  What  is  the  sanction  introduced  in  the 
text,  to  prevent  such  an  abuse,  and  to  secure  such  a  mode 
of  preaching  as  that  which  has  been  described?  "Not 
as  pleasing  men,  but  God,  which  trieth  our 
HEARTS."  What  a  sanction!  "God,  which  trieth 
OUR  hearts!"  All  the  duties  of  the  ministry,  and 
especially  the  preaching  of  the  word,  are  in  a  pecu- 
liar manner  done  in  the  open  daylight  of  Jehovah's 
presence.  God's  eyes  search  the  hearts,  and  his 
eyelids  try  the  reins  of  ministers  every  moment. 
There  is  no  darkness  that  can  hide  from  his  infinite 
scrutiny,  no  sanctimonious  garb  which  his  gaze  can- 
not pierce.  The  whole  retired  interior  of  the  minis- 
ter's soul  is  naked,  and  open  to  the  ej^es  of  Him 
with  whom  he  will  soon  have  to  do.  Lo,  God  hath 
hedged  him  about  in  the  sacred  office,  with  an  omnis- 
cience from  which  there  is  no  escape  !  not  an  idle 
omniscience,  only  looking  on  through  curiosity,  but 
an  omniscience  which  is  gathering  the  materials  from 
the  busy  workings  of  the  minister's  heart,  for  his 
final  trial  in  the  court  of  heaven.  In  every  walk  of 
ministerial  life,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left, 
before  and  behind  him,  are  voices  lifted  up  and  pour- 
ing on  his  listening  ear  the  solemn  sentence — "God, 
which  trieth  our  hearts!"— "  God,  which  trieth 
OUR  hearts!"  At  every  turn  of  his  course  there 
is  an  index  placed,  where  the  finger  of  God  points 
to  the  declaration — "  This  is  the  way  to  the  bar  of 
justice  and  to  the  awards  oi  eternity!"  The  present 
16* 


174  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

gaze  of  God's  eye,  and  the  future  decisions  of  the  great 
day,  are  held  up  perpetually  before  the  mind  of  the 
minister,  to  secure  a  fidelity  in  preaching  the  gospel, 
which  shall  triumph  alike  over  the  frown  or  the  favour 
of  man,  and  seek  to  please  God  only !  0  how  can  a 
minister  of  any  piety  be  unfaithful?  What  compen- 
sation will  the  fading  laurels  which  he  has  won,  by  so 
preaching  as  to  please  men,  afford  him  for  the  present 
blight  of  God's  displeasure,  and  the  future  and  final 
reprobation  which  will  meet  him  at  the  bar  of  judg- 
ment? How  dim  will  be  the  glory  of  his  name,  and 
how  feeble  the  notes  of  his  earthly  praise  in  that 
great  day  when  the  heavens  shall  gather  blackness 
over  him,  and  the  seven  thunders  of  his  doom  shall 
break  from  beneath  the  eternal  throne!  The  trial 
of  the  heart  and  the  tribunal  of  God  are  fearful  things 
to  any  of  our  race:  but  of  all,  most  tremendous  to  the 
unfaithful  minister.  God  would  have  these  things 
constantly  present  and  pressing  on  the  minds  of  his 
ministers,  that  they  may  preach,  not  as  pleasing  men, 
but  Him  who  hath  called  them  with  so  high  and  holy 
a  calling.  He  would  have  us  think  of  the  unspeak- 
able guilt  of  infidelity  to  our  trust,  through  the  love 
of  that  temporary  fame  which  is  so  soon  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  the  shame  and  everlasting  contempt  of 
the  damned.  God  would  have  us  to  know,  that  of 
all  the  transitions  in  the  universe,  that  from  the 
pulpit  to  perdition  is  the  most  ineffably  dreadful ! 
To  lay  aside  the  priestly  robes  and  quit  the  light  of 
the  holy  altar  and  be  wrapt  in  devouring  fire  and 
banished  in  the  blackness  of  darkness  for -ever,  is  the 
horrible  sublime  of  immortal  agony  !  Thanks  to 
God — eternal  thanks  !  that  in  addition  to  the  con- 
sideration of  his  approval  and  love,  he  has  guarded 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  175 

ministerial  fidelity  by  the  infinite  terrors  of  a  sanc- 
tion like  this.  0  God,  in  thy  boundless  mercy,  keep 
all  thy  ministering  servants  from  betraying  the  trust 
which  thou  hast  committed  to  them,  and  from  be- 
coming, in  consequence,  the  selected  feiD  whose  future 
doom  will  display  to  the  universe  the  acme  of  eter- 
nal wo. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  in  the  first  place  say  to  my 
dear  brethren  in  the  ministry — "Suffer  the  word  of 
exhortation."  At  all  times  ours  is  a  great  and  so- 
lemn trust,  a  weighty  and  fearful  responsibility. 
But  it  must  be  obvious  to  any  reflecting  mind,  that 
this  trust  and  responsibility  may  be  greatly  enhanced 
by  peculiar  circumstances  in  the  history  of  the 
church  and  the  world.  Such  an  enhancement  is  now 
resulting  from  the  character  of  "the  times  that  are 
passing  over  us,  and  over  Israel,  and  over  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  countries."  The  social,  political 
and  religious  characteristics  of  this  age,  all  combine, 
to  mark  it  on  the  long  line  of  centuries,  as  pre- 
eminently an  era  of  ministerial  responsibility.  The 
widely  extended  jealousy  of  ministerial  prerogative 
amongst  ungodly  men — the  general  diff'usion  of 
knowledge  amongst  all  classes,  and,  by  consequence, 
the  increasing  intelligence  of  the  great  mass  of  hear- 
ers of  the  gospel — the  latitudinous  freedom  of  opinion 
and  of  the  press — the  amazing  ardour  and  intensity 
of  character  forming  under  the  heat  and  the  hammer 
of  political  and  religious  controversy;  and  the  giant 
efforts  of  a  portion  of  society,  both  in  the  old  world 
and  in  the  new,  to  throw  off*  the  restraints  of  moral 
obligation  which  God  has  been  holding  as  a  balance 
on  the  fearful  machinery  of  fallen  human  nature,  to 


176  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

prevent  its  own  action  from  working  its  speedy  ruin 
— all  these  are  tremendous  elements,  in  the  midst  of 
which,  the  ministry  of  the  present  day  have  to  live. 
Now,  ministers  must  possess  an  intellectual  and  a 
moral  power  that  will  enable  them  to  subdue  these 
elements,  and  to  render  some  of  them  subservient  to 
the  great  ends  of  their  holy  office.  This  will  involve 
a  mightier  conflict,  and,  if  successful,  a  nobler  tri- 
umph, than  that  of  civilization  and  the  arts  over  the 
elements  and  agencies  of  nature.  To  grapple  with 
the  intellect  and  the  heart  of  this  generation,  under 
all  the  variety  of  violent  impulse  and  maddening 
movement  imparted  to  them  by  the  character  of 
these  times;  and  to  conciliate  for  the  altars  at  which 
we  minister,  the  respect  and  veneration  of  the  intel- 
ligent, thinking,  independent,  restless,  active  mass  of 
the  great  community, — will  make  a  demand  on  mi- 
nisterial strength,  almost  without  a  parallel  in  the 
annals  of  Christianity.  The  relative  degree  of  in- 
tellectual and  moral  forces,  between  the  preacher  and 
the  people,  is  fast  changing.  The  average  amount 
of  ministerial  attainment  necessary  to  success  half  a 
century  since,  would  not  avail  at  present,  much  less 
would  it  meet  the  hastening  exigencies  of  the  future. 
Success  cannot  long  be  expected,  without  elevating 
the  standard  both  of  knowledge  and  of  piety  amongst 
the  clergy  themselves.  We  say  both  of  knowledge 
and  of  piety.  The  latter,  however  indispensable, 
(would  that  there  were  sevenfold  more  of  it  than 
there  is)  will  not  serve  to  the  exclusion  of  the  for- 
mer. The  day  has  well  nigh  passed  when  our  pul- 
pits can  be  sustained  and  command  respect  by  deal- 
ing out  a  kind  of  colloquial  piety,  which  aims  at  com- 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  177 

municating  no  knovvledge,  though  it  has  sometimes 
with  great  self-complacency  been  dignified  with  the 
title  oi  '^ practical  preaching,^''  God  has  promised 
to  his  church  pastors  who  shall  yeefi?  his  people  with 
knowledge ;  and  until  ministers  do  so,  they  will  lack 
one  great  element  of  the  power  over  a  sinful  world. 
Until  they  do  so,  the  impetuous  cravings  of  man's 
immortal  mind  will  drive  him  headlong  upon  other 
sources  of  intellectual  excitement  and  gratification. 
Mere  desultory  declamation,  though  uttered  with  an 
angel's  eloquence  and  a  seraph's  ardour,  will  not  feed 
God's  people  with  knowledge.  And,  brethren,  how 
we  are  ever  to  efiect  this  without  pains-taking  and 
persevering  efibrts  to  increase  our  own  stores  of 
knowledge,  is  a  problem  of  no  easy  solution.  Hovv 
we  are,  with  the  present  average  of  ministerial  at- 
tainments, to  meet  the  growing  demands  of  the  po- 
pular mind  in  our  own  times,  I  know  not.  God  has 
given  us  a  position  of  fearful  distinction  in  this  day. 
One  thing  is  certain,  if  we  would  retain  the  ground 
that  we  now  occupy,  our  sacred  calling  must  become 
pre-eminently  the  darling  pursuit  of  our  lives — the 
great,  absorbing,  master-passion  of  our  souls.  Secu- 
lar concerns  and  secular  interests  must  be  regarded 
as  only  secondary,  and  rendered  strictly  subservient 
to  the  high  purposes  of  our  ministry.  We  can  no 
longer  divide  our  time  between  the  cares  of  life  and 
the  functions  of  our  holy  office,  giving  to  the  former 
the  larger  half,  and  yet  expect  to  sustain  ourselves  in 
respectability  and  usefulness  as  ministers  of  the  gos- 
pel. The  world  is  rushing  onward,  with  a  momen- 
tum that  will  not  permit  us  any  longer  to  indulge 
such  an  expectation.     In  every  department  of  human 


178  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

activity,  men  are  driving  like  Jehu,  ^^  fur  ions  ly.^^ 
And,  relying  on  God,  we  too  must  be  able  and  ready 
in  turn  to  mount  the  car  and  take  the  reins,  or  we 
shall  be  crushed  in  the  dust  beneath  the  tremendous 
roll  of  its  wheels. 

If  we  fail  to  keep  pace  with  and  go  before  the  in- 
creasing intelligence  of  our  day — if  we  fail  to  have 
a  hand  in  plying  the  incalculable  power  of  the  press 
— if  we  fail  of  our  influence  in  the  present  move- 
ments on  the  subject  of  popular  education,  and  in 
the  means  of  diffusing  useful  knowledge — if  we  fail 
in  securing  our  full  proportion  of  the  intellectual 
treasures  of  our  times,  it  will  be  a  far  more  disas- 
trous failure  than  the  fabled  catastrophe  of  Phaeton, 
when  intrusted  with  the  chariot  of  the  sun.  The 
physical  distress  fancifully  depicted  of  the  earth  in 
that  case  and  its  personification  at  lifting  its  parched 
hands  in  imploring  importunity  to  the  gods,  but 
faintly  indicates,  nay,  utterly  fails  to  suggest  the  spi- 
ritual disaster  that  would  result  from  the  displacement 
or  obscuration  of  those  "stars"  which  the  great  Head 
of  the  church  holds  up  as  her  light.  0  if  we  fail  to 
perform  our  lofty  circuit,  what  "  a  horror  of  great 
darkness"  will  settle  down  upon  our  globe!  While 
it  is  yet  noon,  the  evening  shadows  of  eternal  death 
will  stretch  over  every  hill  and  valley,  and  on  every 
mountain  and  plain,  presaging  a  midnight  of  gathering 
gloom  upon  the  hopes  and  the  immortal  interests  of 
man.  Brethren, — our  hearts  cannot  but  tremble  in 
view  of  our  present  condition  and  responsibilities  as 
ministers  of  the  everlasting  gospel.  Let  us,  then, 
bring  these  hearts,  trembling  and  aching,  to  the  cross 
of  our  divine  Master,  and  hold  them  there  till  they  are 
melted  and  begin  to  expand  with  the  constraining  love 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  179 

of  Christ — till  faith  grasps  with  both  hands  upon  his 
promise  and  his  povver — till  our  souls  are  fired  with 
a  portion  of  his  self-consuming  zeal; — and  then  let 
us  return  to  the  duties  of  our  high  calling,  deter- 
mined, through  Christ  strengthening  us,  that  we 
will  give  ourselves  wholly  to  the  work — that  we 
will  make  full  proof  of  the  influence  of  an  intelli- 
gent, holy,  faithful  ministry,  in  removing  the  sins 
and  the  sorrows  of  a  dying  world. 

Finally.  In  the  light  of  this  subject,  Christians 
may  see  how  they  ought  to  estimate  the  ministry. 
To  esteem  ministers  very  highly  in  love  for  their 
work's  sake,  is  a  duty  enforced  not  less  by  the  na- 
ture of  their  office,  than  by  the  divine  authority 
which  enjoins  it.  The  obligations  of  Christians  to 
their  ministers  are  unspeakably  tender  and  solemn. 
The  sympathy  which  they  owe  to  him  whose  office 
is  one  of  such  trials  and  such  infinite  responsibilities, 
is  a  deep,  permanent,  generous,  overflowing  sym- 
pathy. The  prayers  which  they  owe  him  are  sin- 
cere, fervent,  importunate  prayers,  like  those  which 
they  offer  for  their  own  eternal  salvation.  The  co- 
operation which  they  owe  him,  is  a  cordial,  prompt, 
constant,  efficient  co-operation.  The  temporal  sup- 
port which  they  owe  him,  is  a  liberal,  ample,  free- 
will offering,  as  though  they  gave  it  unto  the  Lord, 
and  not  to  man. 

Christians,— have  you  fulfilled  these  high  obliga- 
tions to  your  ministers?  For  their  fulfihnent  God 
will  hold  you  bound  to  abstain  from  theft  and  mur- 
der. 0,  I  fear  that  your  neglect,  your  great  neglect 
here,  has  laid  up  fearful  materials  for  your  future  ac- 
count at  God's  tribunal.  Look  at  the  minister  of 
the    gospel    in   the  light    in   which   he    is  exhibited 


180  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

in  this  discourse,  (and  that  is  the  true  light  in  which 
you  ought  to  contemplate  him,)  see,  as  respects 
his  office,  whether  God's  estimate  and  yours  are  not 
widely  different?  Is  he  the  man  whom  you  may 
reasonably  regard  as  possessing  a  most  enviable  lei- 
sure,— his  office  being  a  mere  sinecure?  Is  he  the 
man  whom  you  think,  amidst  all  the  corroding  cares 
and  exhausting  effiarts  of  his  ministry,  ought  to  "la- 
bour, working  with  his  own  hands,"  for  as  much  of 
the  meat  that  perisheth  as  will  barely  support  him, 
while  he  feeds  you  with  that  wdiich  endureth  unto 
eternal  life?  Is  he  the  one  whom  you  regard  as  a 
kind  of  educated,  splendid  pauper,  who  is  to  be  fed 
with  the  crumbs  thrown  from  the  careless  hand  of 
charity, — and  to  think  himself  well  off,  if  he  is  not 
grudged  even  these,  as  a  value  received,  for  which 
he  renders  no  equivalent?  "  0  shame,  where  is  thy 
blush?"  for  there  are  professing  Christians  in  our 
own  land,  in  the  nineteenth  centurj'',  who  partici- 
pate, measurably,  in  the  infinite  meanness  and  guilt 
of  such  an  estimate  of  the  holy  ministry.  "  We 
speak  that  we  do  know,  and  testify  that  we  have 
seen,"  in  this  humiliating  and  painful  affirmation. 
If  it  be  not  so,  why  are  some  ministers,  in  the  midst 
of  a  comparatively  wealthy  population,  driven,  by 
dint  of  temporal  want,  to  the  occupation  of  teaching 
or  of  farming,  and  thus  consigned  to  a  process  of 
official  dwindling  and  deterioration,  which  seems, 
amongst  the  very  people  whose  conduct  has  pro- 
duced this  result,  to  justify  them  in  their  low  esti- 
mate of  the  ministry.  If  it  be  not  so,  what  means 
that  heaven-daring  dishonesty  which  some  feel  at 
perfect  liberty  to  practise,  in  withholding  the  sum 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  181 

which  they  have  subscrihed  with  their  own  hand  for 
the  minister'' s  support,  while  they  feel  obligated 
to  pay  the  bill  of  the  merchant  tailor  and  of  the 
shoemaker;  thus  leaving  the  world  to  draw  the  easy 
and  obvious  inference,  that  those  who  clothe  the 
body  are  justly  entitled  to  their  pay,  whilst  he  who 
wears  out  the  best  energies  of  his  being  to  clothe 
their  immortal  souls  in  the  robe  of  the  Redeemer's 
righteousness,  renders  them  no  service  for  which  they 
feel  obligated  to  give  him  a  compensation  !  If  pro- 
fessing Christians  have  not  an  improper  and  low 
estimate  of  the  ministry,  why  is  it  that  some  of  you 
who  are  fathers  and  have  sons  that  hope  in  Christ 
for  salvation,  and  consider  themselves  bought  with 
the  infinite  price  of  his  blood,  are  unwilling  that 
those  sons  should  select  the  holy  ministry  as  their 
profession?  The  implication  is,  that  you  regard  it 
as  an  office  hardly  sufficiently  honourable  to  comport 
with  the  family  caste  and  reputable  standing  of 
your  sons — an  office  wdiich  affi^rds  them  no  facilities 
for  those  distinctions  to  which  you  hope  to  see  them 
rise — an  office,  in  truth,  whose  incumbents,  of  all 
other  men,  are  the  beneficiaries  of  a  charity  more 
peculiarly  gratuitous  than  that  bestowed  on  the  te- 
nants of  an  almshouse!  You  would  rather  see  your 
sons,  under  all  the  mighty  obligations  which  rege- 
nerating grace  has  imposed  on  them  to  be  devoted 
to  Christ,  pursuing  a  career  of  worldly  glory  in  the 
profession  of  the  law,  or  of  medicine,  or  of  politics, 
than  a  career  of  usefulness  in  the  ministry,  which 
would  exalt  them  hereafter  to  shine  as  the  sun  and 
the  stars  in  the  firmament  of  God  for  ever!  Chris- 
tian brethren, — "  these  things  ought  not  so  to  be." 
16 


182  THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE. 

That  ungodly  men  who  feel  the  rebuke  of  that  "  aw- 
ful goodness"  which  the  ministry  sometimes  pre- 
sents in  the  character  of  its  best  functionaries — that 
the  wicked  whose  consciences  writhe  under  the 
faithful  exhibitions  of  God's  truth  in  exposing  the 
magnitude  and  malignity  of  their  sins,  and  who  feel 
towards  the  ministry  as  the  demoniacs  amongst  the 
tombs  felt  toward  the  Son  of  God,  as  though  it  were 
instituted  "to  torment  them  before  the  time" — that 
these  should  depreciate  the  holy  office,  and  revile  its 
incumbents  as  hireling  priests,  growing  rich  on  the 
money  which  they  extort  from  the  superstitious 
fears  of  the  people,  is  not  at  all  surprising.  A  faith- 
ful, pious  ministry,  is  doubtless  greatly  in  their  way. 
It  is  as  the  angel  with  flaming  sword,  which  met 
Balaam  in  his  keen  career  after  the  wages  of  un- 
righteousness. It  sometim.es  causes  their  "  foot  to 
be  crushed  against  a  wall,"  and  sends  them  wrathful, 
yet  halting,  along  their  downward  course.  But  that 
those  who  profess  to  owe  their  hopes  of  eternal  life 
to  the  instrumentality  of  the  ministry — who  profess 
to  regard  it  as  the  divinely  instituted  means  of  their 
sanctification — that  any  of  such  should  estimate  the 
sacred  office  so  low  as  to  give  the  least  countenance 
to  the  sentiments  of  the  ungodly  on  this  subject,  is 
truly  amazing!  Beware,  professing  Christians,  of 
thus  adding  to  the  griefs  of  him  who  has  trials  and 
sorrows  enough,  after  all  your  esteem  and  kindness 
to  him,  to  make  him  "  weep  between  the  porch  and 
the  altar."  For  these  things,  where  they  continue 
to  exist,  God  will  not  fail  to  visit  the  community 
with  the  awful  judgment  of  "  removing  the  candle- 
stick out  of  his  place,"  and  of  making  that  spot  a 


THE  MINISTERIAL  OFFICE.  183 

"  land  of  darkness  as  darkness  itself,  and  of  the  sha- 
dow of  death  witliout  any  order,  and  wliere  the  light 
is  darkness!"  The  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  taken 
from  that  community,  and  given  to  one  that  shall 
bring  forth  the  appropriate  fruits.  Beloved  Chris- 
tian brethren,  gather  round  your  ministers  with  an 
increasing  interest  and  an  increasing  estimate  of  the 
infinite  value  of  their  holy  calling.  The  times  in 
which  you  live  imperiously  require  this  at  your 
hands.  They  now  need  all  the  influence  which  you 
can  afford,  and  this  generation  may  not  pass  away 
till  they  yet  need  more  than  the  Christian  commu- 
nity have  hitherto  accorded  to  them.  To  some  of 
them,  it  is  a  day  of  trouble  and  of  tumult,  in  the  ec- 
clesiastical connexions  to  which  they  belong — a  day 
of  internal  strife,  whose  issues  on  the  great  interests 
of  religion  in  this  country  no  man  is  competent  at 
present  to  predict.  "Without  also  are  fightings." 
The  great,  growing,  irreligious  populace  are  no  idle 
and  uninterested  spectators  of  these  "  divisions  of 
Reuben!"  For  the  last  ten  years  there  has  been  an 
increasing  bond  of  union  forming  between  the  wicked 
of  all  classes  and  creeds.  The  strength  resulting  and 
accumulating  from  this  union  is  yet  to  be  expended 
in  a  terrible  conflict  with  the  virtue  and  common 
Christianity  of  our  country.  And,  as  we  have  no 
religious  establishment  in  this  land,  it  is  very  ob- 
vious that  ministers  are  likely  to  become  the  centre 
to  which  the  wicked,  thus  banded  together,  will  di- 
rect the  mighty  shock  of  their  aggregated  forces. 
Cling  then  to  your  ministers,  and  to  the  altars  at 
which  they  serve.  Leave  them  not  to  struggle  and 
to  weep  alone.     Let  your  very  souls  cleave  unto 


1S4  rHK   MINISTERIAL  OFFICK. 

ihem  as  iiu\v  approach  the  tierv  trial  and  the  fearful 
contlicl  that  awaits  them!  0,  sustain  them  with  all 
the  sympathy,  and  all  the  counsels,  and  all  the  pray- 
ers, and  all  the  co-operation  that  you  can  bring  to 
their  aid.  By  all  the  trials,  and  sorrows,  and  solemn 
responsibilities  of  the  holy  othce — by  all  the  porten- 
tous signs  of  the  limes  in  i-eference  to  the  ministry 
— by  all  the  momentous  bearings  of  its  influence  on 
the  highest  interests  of  the  race  for  two  worlds — bv 
all  that  t^'Ott  owe  to  its  instrumentality  in  the  eternal 
redemption  of  your  souls — by  the  love  of  Jesus 
which  instituted  this  ollice — by  all  the  honour  of 
God,  and  of  Christ,  and  of  the  Spirit,  involved  in 
its  perpetuity  on  earth,  I  beseech,  1  conjure  you 
"  esteem  your  ministers  very  highly  in  love  tor  their 
work's  sake:"  and,  at  the  peril  of  meeting  the  result 
of  your  delinquency  at  the  bar  of  God,  withhold  not 
an  etlort  necessary  to  augment  their  intiuence  and 
facilitate  their  success  in  prosecuting  the  sublime 
ends  ol  their  heavenly  calling. 


DISASTROUS   EFFECTS  OF  LITTL;:   HIN".  I  H5 


SERMON    IX 


DISASTROUS  EFFP:C7'S  OP'    LITTLE    SL\:S    LN    CHRIS- 
TLANS. 

Dead  fliee  cause  the  ointrrtent  of  thie  apothecary  to  isend  fixtii  a  stink- 
ing Kavour;  fjo  doth  a  littk  Wly  hirn  that  i>i  in  rejHitaJtkm  for  wkdom  and 
honour. — Ecctebiastes  z.  J. 

The  love  of  rf^putation  is  natural  to  men.  God 
has  implanted  this  love  in  the  human  heart  to  sub- 
serve a  benevolent  purpose  in  the  present  scene  of 
our  being.  And  the  individual  who  has  so  far  per- 
verted this  part  of  his  original  constitution,  as  to  feel 
no  regard  for  the  good  opinion  of  the  wise  and  the 
virtuous,  is  prepared  to  become  the  pest  of  the  com- 
munity, and  the  perpetrator  of  the  foulest  deeds  of 
darkness.  To  the  native  desire  of  the  individual  for 
the  esteem  of  others,  may  be  referred  much  of  that 
courtesy  and  common  kindness  which  diffuse  their 
blessings  over  the  various  circles  of  society.  But 
no  man,  in  this  country  especially,  is  born  to  the  in- 
heritance of  a  good  name.  He  must  merit  it  by  his 
real  or  supposed  virtues,  before  it  will  be  awarded  to 
liim.  And  it  is  not  a  rare  or  solitary  act  of  good- 
ness, however  imposing,  that  will  secure  to  the  indi- 
vidual that  "  good  name,  which  is  better  than  pre- 
cious ointment."  As  it  is  with  care  and  caution 
16* 


186  DISASTROUS  EFFECTS 

that  the  apothecary  compounds  and  prepares  his  pre- 
cious perfume,  so  a  fair  reputation  can  only  be  ob- 
tained by  combining  in  their  just  proportions,  and 
exhibiting  in  their  fulness  and  harmony,  those  ele- 
ments of  character  that  meet  the  approbation  of  the 
better  part  of  society.  But  while  such  is  the  diffi- 
culty and  delicacy  of  establishing  a  character  for 
wisdom  and  honour,  it  may  be  easily  lost,  utterly 
lost,  without  destroying  all  or  any  of  its  great  and 
prominent  qualities.  "  Dead  flies  cause  the  ointment 
of  the  apothecary  to  send  forth  a  bad  savour  " — yet 
these  flies  bear  but  an  exceeding  small  proportion  to 
the  whole  substance  of  the  ointment  in  which  they 
are  lodged.  Character,  like  perfume,  then,  may  be 
destroyed  without  a  destruction  of  all  its  principal 
component  parts.  Let  but  a  little  folly  attach  to  him 
who  is  in  reputation  for  wisdom  and  honour,  and  it 
may  utterly  ruin  his  influence.  This  is  the  truth 
exhibited  for  our  contemplation  in  the  text. 

The  object  of  the  remarks  that  follow  shall  be — 

first,  TO  NOTICE  SOME  EXEMPLIFICATIONS  OF  THE 
TRUTH,  THAT  COMPARATIVELY  TRIFLING  DEFECTS 
DESTROY    THE    REPUTATION    AND     INFLUENCE    OF    A 

PROFESSING  Christian — and  secondly,  to  inquire 

INTO  the  reasons  OF  THIS. 

I.  First,  then,  we  are  to  notice  some  exemplifica- 
tions of  the  truth,  that  comparatively  trifling  defects  de- 
stroy the  reputation  and  influence  of  a  professing  Chris- 
tian. 

Every  professor  of  religion  is  at  first,  by  his  very 
profession,  in  reputation  for  wisdom  and  honour. 
He  is  supposed  to  have  taken  a  wise  step,  to  have 
assumed  a  lofty  stand.     He  has  claimed  connexion* 


or  LITTLE  SINS.  187 

intimate  alliance,  with  the  Source  of  all  honour  and 
moral  excellence.  Must  he  then  be  guilty  of  some 
flagrant  violation  of  the  divine  law,  before  he  can 
lose  his  character  and  influence? — No;  a  little  folly 
will  destroy  them  both.  He  may  not  break  the 
Sabbath,  nor  swear  profanely,  nor  steal,  nor  be 
chargeable  with  falsehood,  nor  with  gross  and  palpa- 
ble injustice,  nor  with  habitual  neglect  of  the  social 
and  secret  worship  of  God.  He  may  not  be  impure 
or  intemperate,  a  railer  or  false  accuser,  an  unruly  or 
insubordinate  member  of  the  church.  He  may  nei- 
ther be  quarrelsome  nor  insolent  with  his  neighbours; 
and  yet  he  may  have  that  in  his  character  which  will 
as  effectually  destroy  his  influence  as  though  he  were 
guilty  of  much  greater  enormities.  Let  him  be 
reckless  and  imprudent  in  the  minor  points  of  Chris- 
tian conduct.  Let  him  heedlessly  or  wilfully  post- 
pone the  claims  of  justice,  even  in  little  matters. 
Let  him  have  a  little  of  self-confidence,  and  a  med- 
dlesome forwardness — some  share  of  self-will  and 
unyielding  pertinacity  of  opinion — some  irascibility 
of  temper  that  cannot  brook  contradiction,  or  bear 
to  be  overborne  by  the  opinions  of  a  majority  of  his 
peers,  without  throwing  him  off"  his  balance  and 
causing  him  to  speak  unadvisedly  with  his  lips; — 
any  one  of  these  may  be  amply  sufficient  to  destroy 
his  influence,  though  that  charity  that  hopeth  all 
things  and  believeth  all  things,  may  both  hope  and 
believe  still  that  he  is  a  Christian.  Or  take  a  pro- 
fessor of  religion,  otherwise  irreproachable,  but  who 
has  the  unhappy  habit  of  giving  the  highest  colour- 
ing to  his  representations,  of  using  great  exaggera- 
tion, of  making  loose  and  somewhat  distorted  state- 


188  DISASTROUS  EFFECTS 

ments,  of  taking  a  little  poetic  license  in  the  narra- 
tion of  facts;  and  though  no  court,  ecclesiastical  or 
civil,  could  convict  that  man  of  palpable  lying,  yet 
there  is  a  fly  in  the  ointment,  and  the  savour  is  offen- 
sive. The  man's  Christian  character  and  influence 
are  a  perfect  nullity.  Take  another,  in  other  respects 
unblameable,  but  who  is  known  in  his  business  trans- 
actions to  go  just  as  far  as  the  letter  of  the  law  will 
permit  in  getting  the  best  of  a  bargain — who  evinces 
a  peculiar  shrewdness,  not  to  say  cunnings  in  calcu- 
lating the  bearings  on  his  own  interest  of  certain  un- 
suspected legal  phrases  in  a  contract, and  who  can  satis- 
fy his  own  conscience,  and  attempt  to  justify  to  others 
the  advantage  he  has  thus  gained,  by  saying,  that  it  is 
perfectly  legal — that  the  other  contracting  party 
acted  voluntarily  and  with  his  eyes  open.  Now, 
though  such  a  one  can  neither  be  convicted  by  a 
church  session  nor  a  civil  court,  of  illegal  bargaining 
or  dishonesty,  yet  his  reputation  as  a  professing 
Christian,  and  his  influence  in  the  church  of  God,  are 
somewhat  worse  than  a  cipher!  Again:  suppose  an 
individual,  who  is  not  chargeable  with  any  approxi- 
mation to  overreaching  in  his  dealings  with  others, 
and  whose  reputation  is  respectable  in  the  eyes  of 
men  generally,  except  that  it  is  known  that  he  loves 
exceedingly  to  retain  what  he  has  honestly  acquired, 
irrespective  of  any  demands  of  God  or  man  on  his 
substance:  let  it  be  known  that  he  always  receives 
applications  for  contributions  with  a  mal-grace:  that, 
when  the  object  presented  for  his  liberality  is  one  of 
unquestioned  propriety  and  benevolence,  he  admits 
it,  but  fills  his  mouth  with  objections:  that  he  will  re- 
sort to  apologies  and  excuses,  the  weight  of  which 


OF  LITTLE  SINS.  189 

it  IS  to  be  suspected  he  does  not  himself  feel:  let  it 
be  known  that  to  all  questions  of  this  kind  he  has  a 
set  of  negative  answers — answers  which  show  that 
he  clings  inordinately  to  his  gold — that  he  loves  it 
in  itself,  instead  of  as  the  means  of  doing  good  to  a 
dying  world;  that  he  is  somewhat,  at  least,  inclined 
to  avarice  and  covetousness;  and  though  this  be  not 

regarded  as  a  disciplinable  offence  by  the  church 

(and  I  do  not  see  why  it  should  not  be,  for  the  New 
Testament  declares  it  to  be  idolatry;)  yet  what  is 
that  professor's  character  worth  in  the  estimation  of 
an  enlightened  Christian  community?  Worth  just 
as  much  as  his  treasures  will  be  to  him,  when  God 
takes  away  his  soul.  And  even  where  there  is  not 
such  an  approach  to  downright  covetousness — where 
there  is  no  such  approximation  to  that  "love  of 
money,  which  is  the  root  of  all  evil  " — no  such  ido- 
latrous  attachment  to  riches,  yet  it  is  possible  for 
the  individual  to  be  guilty  of  a  littleness  of  soul — a 
parsimonious  meanness  and  management  in  pecuniary 
affairs,  that  will  as  certainly  undermine  and  destroy 
the  character  and  influence  of  a  professing  Christian, 
as  avarice  and  covetousness  in  their  grossest  forms. 

Let  us  now  contemplate  a  professing  Christian,  free 
from  all  these  defects  of  which  vve  have  spoken,  but 
prone  to  a  certain  unbecoming  levity  of  spirit. 
Such  a  one  may  not  attend  theatres,  operas,  balls,  or 
dancing  and  dashing  parties.  He  may  frequent  no 
haunts  of  dissipation  and  mirth — nay,  he  may  not  be 
habitually  found  in  the  society  of  the  trifling  and  the 
thoughtless.  But  there  may  be  a  certain  effort  at 
dress  and  fashionable  appearance,  a  certain  love  of 
attracting  attention  and  winning  admiration,  a  pre- 


190  DISASTROUS  EFFECTS 

vailing  desire  to  be  witty,  a  love  of  showing  off  a  lit- 
tle, unrepressed  gayety  and  levity  of  spirit,  a  dis- 
position to  trifling  and  puerile  conduct  in  the  absence 
of  customary  restraint,  moments  of  frothy  conversa- 
tion and  vain  jestings,  and  some  leanings  occasional- 
ly to  very  thoughtless  companionship.  Now,  though 
the  individual  to  whom  these  things  attach,  never 
proceeds  to  such  lengths  as  might  at  all  make  him  lia- 
ble to  the  formal  discipline  of  the  church,  yet  what  ef- 
fect have  they  on  his  reputation  and  influence  as  a 
professor  of  religion?  It  is  true,  they  leave  him  in 
his  place,  untouched  by  discipline  as  a  member  of 
the  church,  but  the  fragrance  of  his  good  name  they 
have  not  only  destroyed,  but  caused  that  name  to 
send  up  an  odour  highly  offensive  to  all  that  is  grave, 
dignified,  and  consistent  in  piety. 

Or  suppose  an  individual  to  be  at  a  great  remove 
from  all  that  is  gay  and  trifling,  suppose  him  to  be 
serious  and  punctual  in  all  external  observances,  suf- 
ficiently grave  in  all  his  intercourse  with  the  world, 
possessing  a  moral  character  of  no  positive  faultiness, 
somewhat  zealous  and  enterprising  in  benevolent 
efforts;  yet  let  him  be  inclined  to  a  murmuring, 
restless,  dissatisfied  spirit,  rather  disposed  to  cen- 
soriousness,  mostly  or  always  differing  in  opinion 
respecting  the  most  simple  matters  from  the  majority 
around  him,  greatly  alive  to  the  defects  and  blemishes 
of  others,  complaining  that  every  thing  in  the  church 
and  the  world  seems  to  be  going  wrong,  and  disposed 
to  innovation  and  change,  provided  it  be  of  his  own 
dictation.  Now  in  all  this  he  may  do  nothing  really 
worthy  of  disciplinary  stripes.  He  may  not  in  the 
judgment  of  the  candid  bring  his  own  personal  piety 


OF  LITTLE  SINS.  191 

into  doubt,  and  yet  his  salutary  influence  as  a  Chris- 
tian is  as  utterly  destroyed  as  though  he  had  been 
guilty  of  some  heinous  offence:  there  are  at  least 
enough  of  "  dead  flies  "  in  the  ointment  to  destroy 
its  fragrance,  if  not  to  cause  it  to  send  forth  a  posi- 
tively bad  odour. 

We  may  now  examine  the  effect  of  a  little  folly 
in  one  who  is  in  reputation  for  wisdom  and  honour 
as  a  father  or  head  of  a  family.  Such  a  one,  in  order 
to  lose  his  character  and  influence,  need  not  be  des- 
titute of  natural  affection,  he  need  not  be  a  stern  and 
arbitrary  tyrant  in  the  domestic  circle,  imposing  the 
iron  yoke  of  his  despotism  on  the  weak  and  unoffend- 
ing necks  of  his  wife  and  children,  and  inflicting 
brutal  violence  on  those  whom  God  and  nature  re- 
quire him  to  protect  and  cherish.  Nor,  on  the  other 
hand,  need  he  neglect  all  discipline  and  yield  up 
the  reins,  and  leave  his  children  to  run  without  re- 
straint in  the  course  vvhich  their  ardent  and  wayward 
desires  may  dictate.  He  may  not  allow  them  to 
spurn  his  authority  in  the  graver  matters  of  their 
duty,  to  break  over  the  restraints  of  an  external  mo- 
rality, and  violate  the  Sabbath,  or  profane  the  name 
of  God,  or  steal,  or  utter  falsehood,  or  frequent  places 
of  gaming,  and  drunkenness,  and  lewdness,  and  riot. 
He  may  not  permit  them  to  offer  a  direct  disobedience 
to  any  of  his  positive  and  prompt  requirements  as  a 
father,  and  yet  there  may  be  a  little  folly  attached  to 
him  in  this  relation  which  will  destroy  his  influence 
and  ruin  his  children,  as  inevitably  as  more  glaring 
delinquencies.  Let  him  fail  to  exercise  a  vigilant 
inspection  over  Wi^forining  habits  of  his  children; 
let  him  yield  his  authority,  contrary  to  his  own  con- 


192  DISASTROUS  EFFECTS 

viction  of  right,  to  the  persuasive  importunity  of 
his  child;  let  him  connive  at  the  child's  ingenuity 
to  avoid  collision  with  his  known  will  in  a  given 
case,  and  yet  to  carry  its  own  point;  let  him  some- 
times accept  a  partial  and  reluctant  obedience;  nay, 
let  him  even  hold  the  reins  of  his  parental  govern- 
ment with  an  unsteady  hand,  and  what  will  be 
the  effect  on  his  reputation  as  a  Christian  father, 
and  what  the  influence  on  his  children?  The  evi- 
dence of  his  folly,  however  small  it  may  appear 
to  himself,  will  come  before  the  public  as  soon 
as  its  effects  have  ripened  into  maturity  in  the  cha- 
racter of  his  children.  Whatever  may  be  his  other 
excellencies,  the  world  will  not  respect  him  as  a 
judicious  Christian  father.  His  little  folly  is  suf- 
ficient effectually  to  destroy  the  fragrance  of  that 
good  name,  which  attaches  to  the  exalted  character 
of  a  discreet,  consistent,  Christian  father.  And  it 
will  equally  destroy  his  influence  on  his  own  children. 
Having  learned  that  they  may,  in  some  instances, 
succeed  in  avoiding  a  cordial  and  unqualified  obedi- 
ence to  his  reasonable  requisitions — that  they  may 
carry  their  point  by  management  and  persuasion,  their 
reverence  for  his  parental  authority  is  gradually 
weakened,  the  strong  ties  of  filial  respect  and  fear 
become  loosened,  the  charm  that  bound  them  in  im- 
plicit obedience  to  a  father's  will  and  wishes  is  at 
length  dissolved,  and  the  progress  to  insubordination, 
recklessness  of  all  restraint,  and  to  ultimate  ruin,  is 
neither  slow  nor  uncertain.  The  destruction  of 
character  and  hopes  amongst  the  children  of  profess- 
ing parents,  is  never  eflected  by  great  and  crying 
parental  delinquency.     A  "  little  folly  "  in  those 


OF  LITTLE  SINS.  193 

who  are  in  reputation  for  wisdom  and  honour  as 
Christian  parents,  hath  done  this!  "Behold  how 
great  a  matter  a  little  fire  kindleth!" 

Once  more:  the  truth  of  our  text  is  strikingly  ex- 
emplified in  the  case  of  some  ministers  of  the  gospel. 
The  more  delicate  the  perfume,  the  more  easily  de- 
stroyed by  a  small  ingredient  of  an  offensive  kind. 
So  the  higher  and  more  sacred  the  reputation  for 
wisdom  and  honour,  the  more  easily  ruined  by  a 
Utile  folly.  To  lose  his  character  and  influence,  it  is 
not  necessary  for  the  minister  to  be  infected  with 
gross  heresy,  or  to  be  guilty  of  gross  immorality;  he 
need  not  be  chargeable  with  indiscretions  as  palpa- 
ble as  those  that  mar  the  chaiacter  of  ordinary 
Christians.  Nay,  he  may  preach  t/ie  truth  elo- 
quently and  fervently ;  he  may  have  a  general 
honesty  and  uprightness  of  intention;  some  degree 
of  sincere  desire  to  do  good.  He  may  be  laborious 
in  his  official  duties;  an  example  of  liberality  to  the 
poor,  and  to  all  objects  of  benevolence;  industrious 
and  careful  in  his  studies;  attentive  in  his  visitations 
to  the  sick,  and  to  his  flock  generally:  but  let  him 
be  known  as  a  man  of  somewhat  rash  and  imprudent 
temperament,  or  as  possessing  a  hauteur  and  ill-judg- 
ed independence,  wounding  to  the  feelings  of  others; 
or  let  him  be  prone  to  occasional  levity,  excessive 
fondness  for  anecdote,  and  an  unrestrained  indulgence 
of  his  sense  of  the  ludicrous;  or  let  him  be  known  as 
a  little  inclined  to  be  insidious  and  managing;  a  little 
disposed  to  the  compromising  and  turning  of  a 
merely  secular  policy;  somewhat  desirous  of  the 
praise  of  men,  or  at  least  a  little  too  sensitive  respect- 
ing his  own  popularity  :  any  one  of  these,  however 
17 


194  DISASTROUS  EFFECTS 

small,  if  persisted  in  till  it  become  habitual,  will  un- 
dermine and  ultimately  blast  his  reputation,  and  blot 
out  his  name  from  the  records  of  a  respectable  and  use- 
ful ministry.  How  many  men  of  talents  are  at  this 
day  wasting  and  waning  under  defects  entirely  too 
trifling  to  be  made  the  objects  of  an  ecclesiastical 
process,  or  even  to  bring  their  personal  piety  into 
doubt.  Dead  flies  are,  however,  in  the  ointment, 
and  its  original  purity  and  fragrance  only  serve  to 
enhance  their  offensive  odour.  The  verj'^  transpa- 
rency of  the  consecrated  vessel  that  contains  them, 
serves  to  magnify  those  impertinent  intruders  in  the 
eyes  of  the  spectator,  and  prepares  him  to  receive  the 
greater  offence  from  their  ill  savour.  It  may  well 
make  the  serious  mind  to  tremble,  and  the  sensitive 
heart  to  sink  in  anguish,  to  think  how  a  little  folly 
may  utterly  destroy  the  character  and  influence  of 
him  who  is  in  reputation  for  wisdom  and  honour  as 
a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ. 

II.  Let  us  now,  in  the  second  place,  inquire  into 
some  of  the  reasons  lohy  it  is  that  a  little  folly  will  thus 
destroy  the  character  and  influence  of  a  professing 
Christian. 

I.  One  reason  of  this  is,  that  the  Christian,  by  his 
profession,  creates  large  expectations  respecting  his  cha- 
racter. His  profession  lays  claim  to  all  those  exalted 
and  ennobling  attributes  which  belong  to  regene- 
rated human  nature.  He  professes  to  have  expe- 
rienced a  great  moral  change,  so  radical  in  its  influ- 
ence on  his  being,  that  the  sacred  scriptures  deno- 
minate it  a  "a  new  creation" — a  ^'  being  born  again  " 
— a  "passing  from  death  unto  life" — from  "darkness 
to  light" — from  sin  to  holiness.     He  professes  to  be 


OF  LITTLE  SINS.  195 

the  friend  of  God,  the  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  affirms  by  his  pro- 
fession that  he  has  solemnly  "renounced  the  hidden 
things  of  dishonesty;"  that  he  has  thrown  off  the 
spirit  and  maxims  and  customs  of  a  guilty  world,  as 
no  longer  to  interfere  with,  or  influence  his  conduct; 
that  he  is  actuated  by  a  higher  and  holier  principle — 
by  that  supreme  benevolence  to  God,  and  that  im- 
partial love  to  man  which  the  sacred  scriptures  re- 
quire ;  that  he  has  adopted  rules  of  life  so  gloriously 
pure  and  rigid,  that  they  require  him,  under  the  most 
solemn  sanctions,  to  "  abstain  from  all  appearance  of 
evil."  In  a  word,  that  the  great  law  of  his  renewed 
nature  is  strenuously  to  aim  to  be  holy  even  as  God 
is  holy.  All  this,  and  other  specifications  that  might 
be  added,  are  involved  in  a  public  profession  of  reli- 
gion. Is  it  not  natural,  that  such  a  profession  should 
create  large  expectations  in  the  world  respecting  the 
character  of  him  who  makes  it?  He  gives  an  illus- 
trious hostage  to  public  opinion — a  pledge  that  he 
will  sustain  no  ordinary  reputation  for  wisdom  and 
honour.  The  world  have  accordingly  high  expecta- 
tions ;  and,  forgetting  that  the  Christian  does  not  pro- 
fess present  perfection,  they  regard  him  as  though  he 
did.  Now  where  there  is  such  a  high  profession  on 
the  one  hand,  and  such  enlarged  expectations  on  the 
other,  it  is  manifest  that  a  comparatively  trifling  de- 
fect attaching  to  such  a  character,  will  be  as  the 
dead  flies  in  the  ointment  of  the  apothecary.  The 
same  obliquity  which,  in  the  case  of  one  not  in  re- 
putation for  wisdom  and  honour,  would  pass  wholly 
unobserved,  will  be  amply  sufficient  in  the  case  of 
the  Christian  to  destroy  his  character  and  influence. 


196  PJSASTROUS  EFFECTS 

Nor  does  it  matter  that  the  world  are  unreasonable 
in  their  requirements,  and  expect  too  much.  We 
must  take  human  society  as  it  actually  is,  not  as  it 
should  be,  when  we  are  examining  the  influence  of 
trifling  defects  on  the  reputation  of  the  Christian. 
If  men  are  unrighteously  severe  in  condemning  the 
Christian  for  a  little  folly,  it  is  not  the  less  a  fact  that 
his  reputation  with  them  is  destroyed,  and  his  influ- 
ence neutralized  and  lost.  The  want  of  charity  in 
the  world  to  overlook  his  slightest  faults,  ought  only 
to  prove  a  more  powerful  stimulus  to  him  to  avoid 
the  very  appearance  of  evil. 

2.  A  second  reason  why  comparatively  trifling 
defects  blast  the  Christian's  reputation,  ?5  to  be  found 
in  the  fact,  that  most  men  judge,  whether  right  or  wrongs 
that  little  things  often  furnish  a  clew  to  the  general  cha- 
racter. That  this  is  true  in  many  instances  cannot 
be  doubted.  Hence  the  adage,  that  "straws  indicate 
the  current  of  the  ocean."  And  it  would  be  true  in 
reo-ard  to  a  little  folly  in  the  professing  Christian, 
were  there  not  certain  counteracting  influences  in 
the  very  principles  of  his  renewed  nature.  Were 
there  no  humiliation  in  view  of  the  least  perceptible 
folly  that  attaches  to  him;  no  sincere  penitence  on 
its  account  before  God ;  no  resistance  offered  to 
it;  no  habitual  resolves  and  efforts  in  Divine  strength 
to  overcome  it,  then  that  little  defect  would  furnish 
a  proper  clew  to  his  whole  character  for  piety.  But 
the  world  sees  not  the  operations  of  this  counteract- 
ing influence.  The  Christian's  folly  is  before  the 
v^rorld,  openly;  but  the  deep  humiliation  which  it 
occasions,  is  an  exercise  of  his  soul  in  retirement. 
The  tears  he  sheds  over  it  are  wept  in  secret,  and 


OF  LITTLE  SINS.  197 

seen  by  none  but  the  omniscient  eye;  the  resistance 
he  opposes  to  it  is  amongst  the  secrets  of  his  own 
heart ;  the  resolves  and  efforts  which  he  makes  to 
conquer  and  to  root  it  out  from  amongst  the  habi- 
tudes of  his  soul,  are  not  matters  of  public  observa- 
tion. Hence  the  men  of  the  world  take  the  little 
folly  which  they  see  attached  to  him  as  the  proper  data 
on  which  to  form  their  estimate  of  his  whole  charac- 
ter. All  his  excellencies  are  thus  tarnished,  and  go 
for  a  thing  of  naught.  They  attempt  to  explain 
them  away,  or  account  for  their  existence  in  the  pro- 
fessing Christian,  through  his  hypocrisy,  or  his  love 
of  the  praise  of  men,  or  it  may  be  his  fear  of  falling 
under  the  censure  of  the  church,  or  his  desire  to  pro- 
mote by  such  fair  appearances  some  secular  and  sel- 
fish end.  Thus,  it  being  assumed  that  these  visible 
though  small  defects  are  a  proper  clew  to  his  general 
character,  that  character  is  destroyed,  and  the  Chris- 
tian's influence  worse  than  lost,  in  the  judgment  of 
such  men,  by  a  little  folly. 

3.  A  third  reason  of  this  fact  is,  that  the  world 
abounds  with  that  envy  which  is  anxious  to  re- 
duce all  excellencies  of  character  to  its  own  level. 

There  are  some  men  who  live  only  to  be  tormented 
by  the  good  name  of  others.  Of  small  capacities 
and  very  stinted  virtues,  they  are  nevertheless  gigan- 
tic in  the  single  desire  of  fame.  Popular  esteem 
is  their  idol.  With  the  love  of  this  as  their  ruling 
passion,  when  they  find  themselves  consigned  to  an 
unnoticed  mediocrity,  their  disappointment  and  cha- 
grin speedily  distils  the  bitterest  envy.  If  genius  or 
moral  worth  rises  within  their  view,  and  soars  and 
sheds  glory  from  its  wings — like  the  crows  in  pursuit 

17* 


198  DISASTROUS  EFFECTS 

of  the  eagle,  they  must  need  chatter  at  it,  though  it  is 
far  aloft,  beyond  their  range,on  its  shining  way  toward 
the  sun.  There  are  those  who  consider  all  others 
that  are  in  better  reputation  than  themselves,  as  their 
rivals  and  natural  enemies.  No  matter  wjiat  species 
of  excellence  it  may  be  for  which  the  individual  is 
distinguished,  it  is  sufficient  to  secure  for  him  their 
envy  and  hatred.  These  passions  burn  like  the 
smothered  fires  of  the  volcano,  and  struggle  for  an 
opportunity  to  break  forth  and  blacken  the  reputa- 
tion of  that  individual,  till  it  is  of  the  same  hue  as 
their  own.  Such  men  have  adopted  the  equality 
principle  in  regard  to  the  characters  of  others,  and 
are  determined  never  to  rest,  till  they  have  done 
what  they  can  to  reduce  them  to  a  level  with  their 
own. 

Now  as  envy  cannot  exist  without  some  materials, 
fabricated  or  existing  in  fact,  you  may  judge,  my 
hearers,  with  what  avidity  it  seizes  on  the  trifling 
defects  of  the  Christian,  and  commences  its  diabolical 
work  of  ruining  his  good  name.  But  for  these  de- 
fects it  would  lack  all  the  materials  that  could  afford 
any  probability  of  success  to  its  infernal  machina- 
tions. With  this  little  folly  in  him  who  is  in  repu- 
tation for  wisdom  and  honour,  as  the  basis,  envy 
can  construct  its  stories,  throw  out  its  surmises  and 
insinuations,  and  ruin  a  name  otherwise  better  than 
precious  ointment.  While  then  our  world  is  the 
theatre  of  the  dark  and  guilty  passion  of  envy,  this 
will  afford  one  reason  why  comparatively  trifling 
defects  in  the  Christian,  will  serve  to  destroy  his 
character  and  influence. 

4.  A  fourth  and  last  reason  of  this  may  be  found 


1 


OF  LITTLE  SINS.  199 

in  the  fact,  that  ivicked  men  hope  by  magnifying 
these  comparatively  trijiing  faults  of  the  Chris- 
tian, and  injuring  his  reputation,  to  quiet  their 
consciences  in  vieiv  of  their  own  grosser  sins  and 
deformities. 

There  are  some  men  who  fear  no  disturbance  to 
their  consciences  so  much  as  that  excited  by  the  con- 
sistency and  pre-eminent  holiness  of  the  lives  of 
Christians.  They  can  hear  the  finest  theories  of  re- 
ligion, and  listen  to  the  most  overwhelming  evidences 
of  its  truth,  and  still  strive  to  persuade  themselves  and 
others  that  it  is  hut  a  theoi^y,  not  capable  of  being 
actually  reduced  to  practice.  They  may  be  warned 
by  all  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  of  the  wickedness  of 
their  way,  and  of  the  woes  in  which  it  will  terminate, 
and  yet  if  they  see  no  m.arked  difference  in  character 
between  themselves  and  those  who  profess  religion, 
their  consciences  can  still  repose  in  quiet.  But  if 
the  holy  and  unblameable  life  of  a  Christian — one 
whose  character  is  as  free  from  imperfection  as  even 
the  world  can  reasonably  expect  it  to  be — throws  its 
light  in  upon  their  darkness,  conscience  is  troubled. 
These  men  are  then  afraid  that  there  is  such  a  dis- 
tinction of  moral  character  as  the  Scriptures  assert, 
between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  And  if  there 
be,  they  know  that  their  case,  while  they  continue 
what  they  are,  is  hopeless  and  deplorable  beyond  ex- 
pression. To  silence  conscience  then,  they  must  do 
one  of  two  things — either  repent  and  be  converted, 
and  become  holy,  or  endeavour  to  persuade  them- 
selves that  there  is  not  much  difference  between  the 
character  of  those  who  are  highest  in  reputation  for 
piety,  and  their  own.     The  latter  is  the  easiest,  and 


200  DISASTROUS  EFFECTS 

the  most  grateful  to  the  depraved  heart,  and  withal 
the  least  humbling  to  its  native  pride.  Accordingly 
such  men  seize  on  the  little  folly  connected  with  the 
Christian,  though  it  be  but  as  the  spot  on  the  disk  of 
the  sun,  to  shield  the  eyes  of  conscience  from  the 
tormenting  splendours  of  full-orbed  Christian  cha- 
racter. They  withdraw  their  attention  from  all  his 
preponderating  excellencies,  and  fix  it  strongly  on 
his  most  trifling  defects.  These  they  exaggerate 
and  magnify, and  make  the  foundation  of  more  sweep- 
ing conjectures  and  suspicions,  till,  through  the  deep 
deception  of  their  own  hearts,  they  persuade  them- 
selves, and  would  fain  persuade  others  also,  that  the 
best  Christian  is  after  all  little  if  any  better  than  them- 
selves. Thus  wicked  men  feel  as  though  their  peace 
of  conscience  were  staked  on  the  success  of  their  ef- 
forts to  make  a  little  folly  in  the  professing  Christian 
the  means  of  destroying  his  character  and  influence. 
How  efiectually  they  succeed,  the  bleeding  cause  of 
Christ  in  our  world  abundantly  shows. 

And,  my  dear  Christian  friends,  it  is  vain  for  us 
to  complain  of  such  a  constitution  of  things.  God 
permits  it,  to  impose  on  us  the  necessity  of  the  high- 
est possible  attainments  in  holiness  of  which  our  pre- 
sent condition  is  capable.  God  holds  up  all  these 
reasons,  which  we  have  been  exposing,  to  show 
us  why  it  has  been  and  always  will  be  true,  that 
as  "dead  flies  cause  the  ointment  of  the  apothecary  to 
send  forth  a  stinking  savour,  so  doth  a  liille,  folly  him 
that  is  in  reputation  for  wisdom  and  honour.'^  A 
truth  big  with  terror  to  the  thoughtless,  uncircum- 
spect  Christian,  as  it  is  with  infinite  disaster  to  the 
interests  of  piety  in  the  world. 


1 


OF  LITTLE  SINS.  201 

We  may  infer  from  this  subject,  then,  the  obliga- 
tion of  Christians  to  be  peculiay^ly  circujnspect, 
in  regard  to  things  that  may  seem  as  trifles  com- 
pared with  the  more  prominent  and  imposing  parts 
of  Christian  character. 

My  Christian  friends,  it  will  not  suffice  for  us  to 
be  careful  that  we  are  not  guilty  of  any  direct  im- 
morality— that    no  one  shall  be  able  to  lay  palpable 
and  flagrant  sin  at  our  door.     The  restraints  of  so- 
ciety, and  our  regard  to  public  opinion,  will  ordina- 
rily save  us  from  any  thing  gross  and  revolting  in  our 
moral  conduct.     It  is  not  here  that  we  are  to  double 
the  watch,  and  fortify  the  walls  of  our  religious  cha- 
racter.    The  towers  and  battlements  may  all  be  stable 
and  strong,  while  the  wicket-gate  to  the  heart  may 
be  unbolted  and  readj^  to  open  at  the  touch  of  the 
enemy.     It  is  against  the  Utile  obliquities  of  Christian 
conduct  that  we  are  most  sedulously  to  guard.     It  is 
here    that  the  sternest  circumspection   is   required. 
We  have  seen  that  our  religious  character  and  influ- 
ence can  be  as  eflectually  destroyed   by  a  Utile  folly, 
as  by  more  flagrant  crimes.     We  have  seen  that  there 
are  many  reasons  wh}-  this  must  be  so.     We  have 
seen  that  the  very  profession  of  the  Christian,  on  the 
one    hand,  and  the  exorbitant  expectations  of   the 
world  on  the  other;  that  the  habit  of  judging  of  ge- 
neral character  by  little  acts  ;  that  a  levelling  envy, 
and    a  desire   of  quieting  conscience    amongst    the 
wicked,  by  exaggerating  the  faults  of  Christians,  are 
all  operating  as  so  many  causes  to  take  advantage   of 
a  little  folly  in  him  that  is  in  reputation  for  wisdom 
and  honour,  for  the  destruction  of  his  good  name  and 
influence  in  society.     What  then  is  the  manifest  and 


202  DISASTROUS  EFFECTS 

imperious  duty  of  Christians  thus  situated  ?  Verily, 
that  they  walk  circumspectly  in  lUlle  things — not  as 
fools,  but  as  wise  to  foresee  the  fatal  consequences  to 
their  reputation  if  they  neglect  this  duty.  With 
what  care  ought  they  to  set  themselves  to  the  task 
of  watchfulness  in  this  respect !  Conscience  is  feebler, 
less  sensitive  and  wakeful,  in  proportion  to  the  esti- 
mated littleness  of  these  defects,  in  themselves  con- 
sidered, and  without  reference  to  the  mighty  sweep 
of  their  destructive  power  on  Christian  character  and 
influence.  How  necessary  then  to  stir  up  our  vigi- 
lance and  circumspection,  by  looking  at  the  inevita- 
ble consequences  of  what  may  be  softened  by  the 
name  of  mere  frailties  or  failings!  They  will  in  the 
end,  if  not  arrested,  work  out  a  destruction  of  our 
Christian  reputation  and  influence,  as  certain  and 
deep,  and  dreadful  as  the  most  palpable  immoralities 
could  do.  They  will  leave  us  as  mere  spots  in  the 
church's  feasts  of  charity — as  clouds  without  rain,  to 
shut  out  the  moral  sunshine  and  dews  of  heaven  from 
this  parched  and  barren  world.  In  themselves  they 
ma}^  be  little  things,  but  in  their  destructive  power 
on  our  good  name,  they  "do  the  work  of  tempests 
in  their  might."  "Wherefore,  holy  brethren,  par- 
takers of  the  heavenly  calling,  be  sober,  be  vigilant, 
gird  up  the  loins  of  your  minds,  see  that  ye  walk  cir- 
cumspectly," in  that  which  is  least  as  well  as  in  that 
which  is  greatest — remembering  that  the  world  waits 
to  receive  its  deepest  convictions  of  the  purity  of 
your  conscience,  the  strength  of  your  religious  prin- 
ciple, and  the  influence  of  the  love  and  the  fear  of 
God  on  your  hearts,  from  your  scrupulous  regard 
to  LITTLE  duties. 


OF  LITTLE  SINS.  203 

Finally — We  may  remark  from  this  subject,  how 
strange  it  is  that  professing  Christians  should  be  so  in- 
sensible to  the  guilt  of  what  are  deemed  little  sins. 

If  the  preacher  inveighs  against  profaneness,  or  In- 
temperance, or  lewdness,  or  Sabbath-breaking,  or 
theft,  or  fraud,  or  falsehood,  or  any  of  the  grosser 
crimes,  they  are  willing  to  hear  him,  and  to 
shudder  for  that  professor  of  religion  to  whom  aught 
so  flagrant  can  be  applicable.  They  think  that  if 
they  were  in  his  condition  they  would  be  over- 
whelmed with  a  sense  of  guilt,  and  would  give  up 
all  hope.  But  when  the  man  of  God  dwells  on  the 
blemishes,  or  the  petty  defects  of  their  Christian  cha- 
racter, there  is  scarcely  enough  of  sensibility  in 
their  consciences  to  keep  their  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject. They  look  away  from  these  to  the  more  pro- 
minentand  imposingexcellencies  of  their  character,  as 
abundantly  counterbalancing  them.  Why,  brethren, 
why  such  torpor  of  conscience  amongst  Christians 
about  little  sins?  If  they  are  sufficient  to  destroy 
your  good  name,  and  your  Christian  influence  on  a 
dying  world,  why  may  they  not  suffice  to  put  con- 
science in  an  agony  till  penitence  through  the  blood  of 
Jesus  remove  them  from  the  soul?  What  is  your  ex- 
istence worth  to  God,  or  to  his  universe,  when  you 
areas  salt  that  has  lost  its  savour — when  you  are  stript 
of  the  reputation  and  the  influence  of  a  Christian  ? 
What  though  you  may  get  to  heaven  at  last,  and  be 
"saved  so  as  by  fire?'^  Will  you  have  fulfilled  the 
high  responsibilities  of  your  standing  on  earth — your 
connexion  with  mortals?  Did  God  design  that  on 
your  way  to  immortality  you  should  be  a  mere  ne- 
gative thing — should  exert  no  permanent  goodly  in- 


204  DISASTROUS  EFFECTS  OF  LITTLE   SINS. 

fluence?  And  yet  such  must  be  the  certain  result  of 
little  sins  indulged.  And  does  it  constitute  any  pal- 
liatloriy  that  you  barter  your  name  and  influence  at  a 
price  so  small?  Oh,  can  conscience  sleep  over  those 
little  things,  which  yet  are  so  great  in  their  conse- 
quences as  to  disrobe  you  of  the  exalted  attributes  of 
a  consistent  Christian,  and  throw  you  as  a  dead 
weight  on  the  struggling  energies  of  the  church,  and 
finally  dismiss  you  from  the  world  as  little  better, 
perhaps,  than  a  cumberer  of  the  ground!  My  dear 
Christian  friends,  wherever  else  conscience  may 
sleep,  oh,  let  it  not  do  this  over  little  sins.  Here  let 
it  wake  up,  and  weep,  and  lead  to  fervent,  agonizing 
prayer,  till,  through  abounding  grace,  you  may  stand 
confessed  before  the  world,  "  blameless,  and  harm- 
less, the  sons  of  God,  without  rebuke." 


1 


t 

THE  WISE  RECKONING  OF  TIME,  205 


SERMON    X. 


THE  WISE   RECKONING   OF  TIME.     A   NEW-YEAR'S 
SERMON. 

So  teach  us  to  number  our  days,  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto 
wisdom. — Psalm  xc.  12. 

The  course  of  time  has  ever  been  the  subject  of 
sublime  and  melancholy  musing.  The  sacred  writer, 
in  the  context,  introduces  this  topic  by  some  of  the 
most  tender  and  beautiful  imagery.  Whether  the 
lapse  and  vicissitudes  of  time  would  bring  upon  an 
unfallen  spirit  that  impression  of  poetic  sadness 
which  we  feel,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  Did  the 
mighty  current  of  years  roll  on  over  a  sinless  world, 
it  would  probably  associate  to  the  minds  of  the  in- 
habitants nothing  but  images  and  anticipations  of 
brightness  and  glory.  But  upon  apostate  man,  time, 
in  its  flight,  casts  a  deep  shadow  from  its  wings,  and 
awakens  emotions  of  strange  and  undefinable  sad- 
ness. The  great  changes  that  have  been  effected, 
the  decay  and  ruin  of  the  proudest  monuments  of 
human  power,  the  wreck  of  generations  gone  by, 
and  the  unrevealed  mysteries  of  the  future,  fill  the 
mind  with  associations  mournfully  sublime.  How 
little  and  impotent  does  man  appear,  as  he  views 
himself,  borne  along  on  the  tide  of  years,  as  the  leaf 
18 


206  THE  WISE  RECKONING  OF  TIME. 

on  the  bosom  of  the  mighty  river,  without  any 
power  to  arrest  or  direct  its  course.  We  might, 
my  hearers,  to-day  yield  ourselves  up  to  mere 
sombre  musings  on  this  subject;  but  the  psalmist 
has  shown  us  ''  a  more  excellent  way"  of  improving 
the  swiftly  passing  moments.  "  So  teach  us  to 
number  our  days,  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto 
wisdom."  What  a  suitable  prayer  in  view  of  our 
hurrying  existence  here,  and  of  its  infinite  and  en- 
during issues  hereafter.  If  life  is  so  brief,  so  fleeting, 
oh  teach  us,  thou  Author  of  our  being,  so  to  estimate 
what  remains,  as  to  make  of  every  moment  the  best 
possible  use. 

Brethren,  on  this  first  Sabbath  in  the  new  year, 
may  not  we,  with  great  propriety,  make  this  prayer 
of  the  psalmist  our  own?  "So  teach  us  to  number 
our  days,  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wis- 
dom." As  Christians,  then,  how  shall  we  make  a 
wise  computation  of  time?  Such  a  computation  will 
require  us  to  have  some  reference  to  the  present  cir- 
cumstances of  society,  and  to  the  prospects  opening 
on  the  world. 

I.  I  remark,  then,  first,  that  we  ought,  as  Chris- 
tians, to  appreciate  the  opportunities  presented  of 
making  great  progress  in  knowledge — in  inteU 
lectual  improvement.  Inspiration  has  decided,  that 
"  for  the  soul  to  be  without  knowledge  is  not  good." 
There  have  been  periods,  however,  when  knowledge 
and  intellectual  culture  were  not  so  manifestly  de- 
manded of  Christians  as  at  present.  In  those  periods 
the  enemies  of  religion  had  no  means  of  being  in  ad- 
vance of  believers  as  to  general  intelligence.  On 
the  other  hand,  thev  were  indeed,  for  the  most  part. 


A  NEW  year's  discourse.  207 

their  inferiors.  Knowledge  then  was  looked  upon 
very  much  as  the  monopoly  of  the  church,  and  the 
little  that  did  exist  was  to  be  found  principally  in 
her  monasteries  and  her  schools,  such  as  they  were. 
Most  opinions,  instead  of  being  judiciously  weighed, 
were  inculcated  and  received  on  mere  authority. 
But  time  in  its  progress  has  brought  a  very  difierent 
state  of  public  sentiment.  The  intellectual  elements 
of  the  civilized  world  seem  to  be  stirred  with  an  un- 
wonted commotion.  The  flood  of  ages  has  swept 
away  a  multitude  of  barriers  that  once  limited  the 
range  of  mind.  And  the  improvements  in  the  arts 
and  sciences  furnish  facilities  now  for  extended  and 
intense  intellectual  action,  such  as  the  world  has  not 
witnessed.  Such  an  action  has  really  commenced. 
The  claims  of  every  system  of  doctrine — the  claims 
of  every  form  of  government — of  every  institution, 
social,  political,  or  religious,  are  now  subjected  to  the 
investigation  and  scrutiny  of  a  mass  of  minds  un- 
awed  by  authority.  Public  opinion  is  now  be- 
coming the  great  arbiter  in  all  questions.  Every 
thing  is  tending  to  show,  that  the  human  race  will 
soon  be  under  no  other  government  but  that  of 
mind:  that,  whatever  may  be  the  instruments 
which  it  shall  use,  intelligence  will  be  the  arm 
that  will  rule  the  world.  And  every  form  of  eccle- 
siastical, political,  or  social  order,  which  cannot  be 
supported  by  reason  and  obvious  truth,  is  destined 
to  be  subverted  and  remodelled  by  the  omnipotence 
of  mind.  Men  of  the  world  are  aware  of  this,  and 
are  numbering  their  days  with  reference  to  it. 
They  are  ceasing  to  glory  in  war,  and  in  mere 
animal   prowess,  and  arc  striving  to  possess  them- 


208  THE  WISE  RECKONING  OF  TIME. 

selves  of  disciplined  and  vigorous  intellect.  They 
see  that  the  future  battles,  which  are  to  distinguish 
our  world's  history,  are  to  be  the  mighty  conflicts 
of  mind — marshalling  its  forces,  and  meeting  in  the 
shock  of  a  gigantic  strife  on  the  great  line  that  di- 
vides truth  and  reason  from  error  and  absurdit}^ 
The  mighty  struggles  of  antagonist  principles — 
principles,  anchored  in  the  depths  of  capacious  and 
richly  stored  minds,  are  to  constitute  the  materials 
for  the  future  historian  in  his  book  of  the  wars  of 
men.  Now  what  is  the  duty  of  Christians  amid  cir- 
cumstances and  prospects  like  these?  Ought  they 
not  to  cherish  ardent  desires  after  knowledge  and 
intellectual  improvement?  Ought  they  not  to  re- 
deem more  time  for  this  object?  How  will  religion 
maintain  her  supremacy  at  such  a  period,  if  its  pro- 
fessors are  inferior  in  knowledge  to  the  mass  around 
them  ?  Nay,  how  will  they  long  retain  the  territory 
already  enclosed  within  the  limits  of  the  church,  if 
they  are  indolent  while  the  hosts  ivithoiit  are 
'^running  to  and  fro,"  and  increasing  in  know- 
ledge? Those  hosts  may  com.e  and  "take  away 
their  place  and  nation."  And  why  is  it  that  worldly 
men  can  be  so  untiring  devotees  in  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge?  Is  the  love  of  intellectual  power  or  of 
literary  fame  a  motive  to  exertion  stronger  than 
those  which  the  gospel  presents  to  Christians?  By 
no  higher  ends  than  earth  can  afford,  a  multitude  of 
unsanctified  minds  have  been  stimulated  even  to 
death  in  the  career  of  mental  improvement.  Time, 
health,  riches,  life,  have  been  sacrificed  in  the  over- 
reachings  of  their  souls  after  knowledge.  But  every 
Christian  has  infinitely  higher  motives  to  impel  him 


A  NEW  year's  discourse.  209 

to  make  acquisitions  of  true  science.  If  he  be  asked 
why  he  is  labouring  to  obtain  stores  of  knowledge, 
he  can  answer,  because  "  the  Lord  hath  need  of 
them.^^  He  knows  that  he  can  bring  every  acqui- 
sition, and  lay  it  down,  an  acceptable  offering,  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus.  He  knows  that  mind  is  the  great  in- 
strument through  which  the  Redeemer  is  to  effect 
those  eternal  purposes  "that  pertain  to  his  kingdom 
and  glory."  He  knows  that  every  capability  de- 
veloped, every  item  of  strength  gained,  is  giving 
power  to  this  instrument,  and  fitting  it  to  be  wielded 
with  greater  effect  by  the  hand  of  the  master.  Who 
that  thinks  of  the  great  ends  which  the  infinite  God 
accomplished  by  Moses,  and  the  part  which  his 
mind,  "  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians," 
performed  in  the  stupendous  drama  of  the  world;  or, 
who  that  has  looked  upon  a  Paul  going  from  the  feet 
of  Gamaliel  with  all  his  intellectual  treasures  to  the 
cross,  and  from  the  cross  travelling  in  the  greatness 
of  his  mental  strength  to  the  ends  of  the  civilized 
earth,  a  chosen  vessel  bearing  infinite  blessings  to 
millions,  can  help  feeling  the  irrepressible  risings  of 
a  holy  emulation  to  grow  in  knowledge  and  grasp 
every  intellectual  attainment  within  the  reach  of 
mortals? 

Would  that  Christians  now,  with  far  brighter  pros- 
pects, might  so  number  their  days  as  to  apply  their 
hearts  unto  wisdom!  Let  it  not  be  said  that  such 
great  attainments  are  reserved  for  the  favoured  few 
that  appear  at  distant  intervals.  This  need  no  longer 
be  the  case;  and  would  no  longer  be  the  case,  were 
not  the  church  culpably  ignorant  or  negligent  of  her 
high  privileges.  There  is  no  necessity  that  the  great 
IS* 


210  THE  WISE  RECKONING  OF  TIME. 

mass  of  Christians  should  remain  comparatively  un- 
intelligent. Every  church  might  now  be  organized 
into  classes  for  mutual  instruction.  Adult  Bible 
classes  might  be  every  wJiere  established.  Why  not 
as  extensively  as  the  Sunday  School  system,  if  the 
church  felt  as  she  ought,  that  knowledge  was  power? 
And  I  see  not,  in  view  of  the  signs  of  these  times, 
why  all  the  more  intelligent  members  of  the  body  of 
Christ  do  not  owe  a  solemn  duty  in  this  respect  to 
their  less  informed  brethren.  Every  Christian 
family,  and  every  Christian  church,  ought  to  be  or- 
ganized on  the  plan  of  imparting  the  greatest  possible 
amount  of  instruction,  and  of  raising  to  its  greatest 
elevation  the  intellectual  standard  of  the  members. 
I  am  persuaded  that  the  most  happy  results  would 
follow  the  organization  of  churches  into  classes  for 
mutual  instruction  and  improvement,  where  those  of 
all  ranks  in  society  should  mingle  together.  It  would 
destroy  invidious  distinctions — would  prevent  the 
jealousy  of  the  poor  toward  the  rich,  and  imparl  a  very 
important  kind  of  information  to  the  rich  themselves: 
it  would  make  them  acquainted  with  the  habitudes  of 
thought  and  feeling  amongst  their  humbler  brethren, 
and  exhibit  to  them  the  peculiar  form  which  piety 
wears  in  the  common  walks  of  life.  Some  of  the 
first  statesmen  in  the  world  are  directing  their  efforts 
to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  amongst  all  classes. 
The  late  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  it  is  said,  pro- 
jected the  plan  of  the  Penny  Magazine,  which  has 
now  a  circulation  of  some  hundreds  of  thousands 
weekly; — an  example  worthy  of  our  richest  and 
ablest  citizens.  But  how  long  shall  "the  children  of 
this  world  be  wiser  than  the  children  of  light?" 


1 


A  NEW  year's  discourse.  211 

The  great  facilities  for  communicating  knowledge 
to  all  ranks  at  the  present  day,  point  out,  as  with  the 
finger  of  God,  the  duty  of  the  church  to  be  up  and 
doing.  The  religious  periodicals,  tracts,  and  varied 
forms  of  useful  intelligence  which  mark  our  day,  put 
intellectual  improvement  within  the  reach  of  all. 
And  the  ease  with  which  a  livelihood  can  be  gained 
in  this  country,  and  the  labour-saving  improvements 
in  machinery,  afford  more  or  less  time  to  all  to  be 
devoted  to  this  purpose.  And  let  it  be  remarked, 
that  the  humblest  and  most  obscure  Christian  in  the 
church  knows  not  what  progress  he  may  make  in 
knowledge,  if  he  will  only  prize  it  more  than  money, 
and  number  his  days  wisely  with  reference  to  its  at- 
tainment. In  illustration  of  this,  permit  me  to  give 
you  the  history  of  a  case  that  occurred  in  the  place  of 
my  own  nativity.  A  lad  of  fourteen  years  was,  by 
the  providence  of  God,  left  an  orphan,  without  any 
one  sufficiently  interested  in  him,  to  offer  him  a  home 
or  employment.  After  the  burial  of  his  mother,  he 
went  to  a  neighbouring  town  and  hired  himself  to 
an  innkeeper  as  an  hostler.  He  had,  as  may  be  sup- 
posed, but  a  partial  English  education.  He,  how- 
ever, found  some  Latin  books,  and  redeemed  mo- 
ments to  attempt  their  perusal.  He  was  not  afforded 
even  a  candle,  but  he  used  to  gather  shavings  during 
the  day,  and  burn  them  on  the  kitchen  hearth  at  night 
to  pursue  his  studies.  Yet  such  was  the  progress  he 
made,  that  when  it  was  first  discovered  that  he  had 
turned  his  attention  to  Latin,  he  was  able  to  read 
Horace,  one  of  the  principal  Roman  authors,  with 
ease  and  accuracy.  He  was  then  taken  by  a  bene- 
volent gentleman  and  fitted  for  college— no  hard  task. 


212  THE  WISE  RECKONING  OF  TIME. 

He  entered  the  college  at  Princeton,  and  graduated 
with  the  first  honours.  He  then  studied  theology, 
afterwards  became  the  president  of  a  college  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  at  the  age  of  thirty  was  called 
from  earth,  as  we  trust,  to  a  sphere  of  far  more  ele- 
vated usefulness  and  glory. 

Let  not,  then,  the  humblest  individual  here  to-day, 
despair  of  great  attainments  in  knowledge;  they  are 
within  reach.  God  made  your  mind  for  knowledge, 
as  much  as  he  did  your  eye  for  light.  And  the 
"  day-star  "  of  intelligence  hath  emphatically  visited 
us.  Set  your  aim  high  this  year,  and  follow  where 
it  leads,  and  your  "  path  may  be  as  that  of  the  morn- 
ing light.^' 

H.  hi  numbering  our  days  wisely,  we  ought  to 
count  upon  the  opportunities  presented  for  forming 
an  elevated  religious  character. 

Mere  knowledge,  valuable  as  it  is  when  connected 
with  holiness,  when  severed  from  this,  is  but  the 
strength  of  Samson  deprived  of  his  eyes.  We  shall 
have  numbered  our  days  to  little  purpose,  if  we  do 
not  make  broad  calculations  of  growing  in  grace  as 
well  as  in  knowledge.  And,  my  hearers,  the  signs 
of  the  times  in  reference  to  this  object  deserve  very 
serious  consideration.  No  period,  perhaps,  has  ever 
furnished  such  elements  for  forming  a  high  order  of 
moral  character  as  the  present.  It  is  admitted  that 
those  truths  of  God  that  have  remained  the  same  in 
every  age,  are  the  basis  of  religious  character.  The 
Bible  and  the  Holy  Spirit  are  God's  instrument  and 
agent  in  the  sanctification  of  a  revolted  world.  But 
it  is  equally  true,  that  circumstances  may  greatly  faci- 
litate their  operations  in  transforming  the  character 


A  NEW  year's  discourse.  213 

of  man.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  agency  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  nature  of  God's  truth,  are 
such  that  they  can  ynd  do  lay  hold  of  all  the  great 
and  complicated  events  of  time  as  auxiliaries  in  their 
work.  The  effect  of  imposing  and  exciting  events, 
in  developing  talent  and  forming  worldly  character, 
is  so  universally  acknowledged,  that  it  has  given  rise 
to  the  adage,  "that  man  is  the  creature  of  circum- 
stances.'^ Now  it  cannot  be  supposed,  that  the  great 
moral  events  that  crowd  into  a  particular'period  will 
have  less  influence  in  forming  religious  character, 
when  coupled  with  the  combined  agency  of  the  Spi- 
rit and  truth  of  God.  There  have  been  periods 
when  the  current  of  years  flowed  on  without  any 
striking  incidents  adapted  to  effect  remarkable 
changes  in  human  character — dark  ages,  when  a 
shadowy  stillness  seemed  to  hang  over  the  stream  of 
time,  beneath  which  the  mind  of  generation  after  ge- 
neration slept  away  its  being,  unagitated  by  any  of 
those  strong  excitements  which  give  new  lineaments 
to  the  heart  of  man.  But  such  it  will  be  admitted, 
are  not  the  days  we  are  now  numbering.  This  ap- 
pears to  be  the  seed-time  of  a  new  and  higher  order 
of  religious  character  in  the  church  of  God, — the 
time  that  has  prospective  reference  to  the  millennial 
harvest.  This  we  might  infer  from  the  very  condi- 
tion of  the  world  around  us.  If  the  future  historian 
gives  this  portion  of  the  nineteenth  century  its  ap- 
propriate name,  he  will  call  it,  "  ^Ae  age  of  inten- 
sity" in  every  department  of  enterprise  and  acti- 
vity. There  seems  to  be  an  amazing  waking  up  of 
the  powers  of  human  nature,  preparatory  to  some 
great  changes  in  the  condition  of  man.     The  me- 


214  THE   WISE  RECKONING  OF  TIME. 

chanic  and  the  merchant  feel  themselves  to  be  under 
some  new  and  undefinable  impulse,  that  is  driving 
them  onward  in  an  enterprise  and  speculation  of 
which  they  once  had  scarcely  a  conception.  States- 
men are  grasping  the  subject  of  politics  with  almost 
the  energy  of  desperation.  The  walks  of  literature 
are  becoming  crowded  with  a  jostling  and  breathless 
throng  of  aspirants.  And  even  vice  and  atheism 
themselves  are  assuming  something  of  that  boldness 
and  intensity  which  characterize  them  in  hell.  Now 
piety,  if  it  exist  and  be  in  exercise  at  all,  living  in 
the  midst  of  such  unwonted  excitement,  ought  itself, 
by  the  very  force  of  circumstances,  to  become  more 
intense.  Yes,  it  may  and  ought  to  assume  a  loftier 
and  more  decided  character,  from  the  spirit  of  the 
times. 

But  there  are  other  events  at  present  more  pecu- 
liarly adapted  to  form  a  high  order  of  moral  charac- 
ter. One  of  these  is  the  awakened  attention  and  in- 
creased facililics  for  studying  the  Bible.  The  disas- 
trous eclipse  which  had  obscured  some  of  the  great 
truths  of  revelation  for  ages,  has  now  passed  off,  and 
they  are  coming  out  on  the  vision  of  the  church  in 
unveiled  splendour.  At  no  time  since  revelation 
was  completed,  have  there  been  such  means  and  op- 
portunities of  a  wide-spread  and  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  oracles  of  God.  Now,  if  the  truths  of  these 
oracles,  more  dimly  seen,  formed  such  characters  as 
Luther  and  Calvin,  Baxter  and  Flavel,  and  others  of 
like  exalted  attributes,  what  transformations  may  not 
their  unclouded  lustre  now  effect,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Holy  Ghost? 

As  another  event  in  these  times,  adapted  to  form 


1 


A  NEW  year's  discourse.  215 

religious  character,  we  may  notice  in  some  respects 
a  salutary  change  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  It  is 
now  freed  from  many  of  the  incumbrances  of  former 
ages,  that  destroyed  its  power  on  the  conscience  and 
the  heart.  The  ministry  has  become,  in  some  mea- 
sure, what  God  always  designed  it  to  be,  a  great  or- 
gan of  deep  and  practical  impression  on  the  human 
mind.  It  has  become  a  lucid  expositor  of  the  claims 
of  God  on  the  immediate  services  and  affections  of 
men — holding  up  his  unchangeable  law,  exhibiting 
in  a  clear  manner  the  Irue  grounds  of  the  sinner's 
guilt,  and  condemnation,  and  dependence — holding 
out  a  full,  free,  sincere  offer  of  pardon  and  eternal 
life  to  all  without  exception — putting  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  sinner's  choice  of  life  or  death  just  where 
God  puts  it,  and  where  it  properly  belongs,  on  hiTU- 
self;  and  charging  him  with  the  guilt  of  rebellion 
against  God  for  every  hour  that  he  delays  repentance 
and  cordial  obedience  to  the  gospel.  The  ministry 
now,  instead  of  exhausting  its  powers  to  engage  pro- 
fessing Christians  in  an  unholy  war  for  mere  rites 
and  forms,  brings  the  precepts  of  Christ,  that  respect 
the  practical,  every-day  graces  and  duties  of  life,  di- 
rectly upon  the  conscience  and  the  heart  of  the 
church,  and  labours  to  form  Christians  to  habits  of 
untiring  and  holy  activity.  It  is  active,  rather  than 
mere  contemplative  piety,  that  is  now  inculcated — 
a  benevolence  wide  as  the  world,  rather  than  the 
love  of  a  sect — the  luxury  of  blessing  a  sinking  race, 
rather  than  the  mere  enjoyment  of  insulated  and  so- 
litary religion.  Now,  it  is  easy  to  see  what  an  in- 
fluence such  a  ministry  is  adapted  to  exert  in  form- 
ing a  high  order  of  religious  character. 


216  THE  WISE  RECKONING  OF  TIME. 

Another  fact  bearing  on  this  point  is,  that  the  days 
which  we  are  numbering,  are  days  in  which  "/Ae 
glorious  ministration  of  the  Spirit,'^  in  that  form  which 
it  took  after  the  ascension  of  Jesus,  has  become  more 
pervading  and  effective  than  it  has  been  since  the  day  of 
Pentecost.  It  is  now,  indeed,  '^searching  all  things, 
j'ea,  the  deep  things  of  God ;"  it  is  proving  a  "dis- 
cerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  "  of  many  hearts; 
it  is  making  an  extended  application  of  its  regenera- 
ting and  sanctifying  power  to  multitudes  of  minds  in 
Christendom,  and  sealing  the  blessings  of  redemption 
on  a  scale  more  commensurate  with  the  tremendous 
exigencies  of  a  dying  world.  Under  such  an  admi- 
nistration of  this  great  author  of  the  Christian  graces 
— this  transformer  of  the  human  mind,  the  Spirit  of 
God,  increasing  in  manifestations  of  power  and  ef- 
ficiency as  we  approach  "  the  last  times,"  the  moral 
character  of  the  church  may  and  ought  to  assume  a 
new  intensity  and  glory. 

In  addition  to  all  these,  we  must  not  overlook  the 
obvious  influence  on  Christian  character  that  may 
be  exerted  by  the  vast  system  of  benevolent  enterprises 
which  have  been  originated  in  our  day.  What  an 
influence  have  great  political  schemes  exerted  on  in- 
dividual and  national  chan^cter!  Does  not  all  analogy, 
then,  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  great  moral  j)lans  of 
this  age  may  exert  a  moulding  power  upon  religious 
character?  Both  the  intellect  and  the  heart  of  the 
church  are  beginning  already  to  be  dilated  v.'ith  the 
lofty  conceptions,  and  the  overwhelming  emotions, 
associated  with  the  work  of  filling  the  world  with 
Bibles;  of  flooding  it  with  religious  tracts;  of  train- 
ing, for  all  its  perishing  millions,  an  adequate  mi- 


A  NEW  YEAR  S  DISCOURSE.  217 

nistry;  and  sending  into  its  deepest  recesses  of  dark- 
ness, tlie  missionaries  of  light  and  love,  of  peace  and 
salvation.  This  state  of  things  in  the  church  is  too 
recent  to  exhibit,  as  yet,  those  great  results  in  the 
formation  of  religious  character  which  it  is  adapted 
to  effect.  But  who  does  not  see  that  it  furnishes  the 
elements  of  an  order  of  moral  character  amongst 
Christians,  such  as  the  clmrch  has  not  witnessed  since 
her  apostolic  days'? 

In  view,  then,  of  all  the  circumstances  mentioned, 
does  it  not  become  us,  in  wisely  numbering  our  days, 
to  make  a  new  and  mighty  reach  after  greater 
attainments  in  holiness?  What  is  to  prevent  us  from 
taking  a  far  higher  rank  in  the  scale  of  moral  cha- 
racter than  the  generations  that  have  preceded  us? 
What  shall  hinder  us  from  rising  above  the  mists  of 
past  centuries,  and  shining  in  all  "the  beauty  of  the 
Lord  our  God?"  What  shall  hinder  young  Chris- 
tians in  our  day  from  mounting,  as  on  wings  of 
eagles,  and  soaring  nearer  and  nearer,  with  more 
than  the  eagle's  strength  of  vision,  to  the  Sun  of 
righteousness,  —  bathing  themselves  in  the  living 
light  of  his  beams,  and  becoming  "  changed  into  the 
same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  as  by  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord?" 

III.  In  numbering  our  days  wisely,  we  ought  to 
count  upon  exerting  afar  more  widely  extended 
INFLUENCE  as  Christians.  Such  are  the  laws  of  our 
intellectual  and  social  being,  and  such  arc  the  rela- 
tions and  connexions  of  one  mind  with  another,  that 
an  influence  of  some  kind  we  must  and  shall  inevi- 
tably exert.  The  khicl  of  influence  exerted,  and  the 
direction  which  that  influence  shall  take,  will  be  one 
19 


218  THE  WISE  RECKONING  OF  TIME. 

of  the  most  solemn  items  of  man's  last  account  to 
his  God.  The  elem.ents  of  Christian  influence  are 
knowledge  and  holiness.  The  degree  of  knowledge 
and  holiness,  particularly  of  the  latter,  will  measure 
the  extent  of  the  Christian  influence  which  an  in- 
dividual or  a  church  may  exert.  This  indeed  is  an 
argument  why  we  should  number  our  days  with  a 
reference  to  intellectual  and  spiritual  attainments. 
But  those  treasures  of  mind  and  heart  which  we  ac- 
quire are  not  to  be  hoarded  as  the  miser's  heaps  of 
gold.  The  times  that  are  passing  over  us  constitute 
the  great  working;  period  in  the  history  of  cur  world 
— the  jjractical  age  of  the  species,  when  utility 
takes  the  precedence  of  all  theory  and  speculation. 
Capitalists  are  making  larger  and  more  advantageous 
investments.  Politicians  are  grasping  at  a  more 
extended  influence  over  the  popular  mind.  The 
business  and  pleasures,  the  wealth  and  elevation,  and 
advancement  of  the  human  race,  are  now  projected 
on  a  mightier  scale  than  at  any  former  era  in  the 
chronicles  of  time.  Does  it  not  become  Christians, 
then,  with  their  eyes  on  the  signs  of  these  times,  to 
count  with  a  h.oly  enthusiasm  on  a  deep  and  vastly 
extended  Christian  influence  over  their  fellow-men.? 
I  am  persuaded  that  we  have  too  low  an  estimate  of 
the  possible  power  of  Christian  character.  In  num- 
bering our  days,  then,  with  reference  to  a  large 
investment  of  the  capital  of  Christian  influence,  let 
us  look  at  what  has  been  accomplished  by  some  un- 
inspired men  of  no  very  remarkable  mental  endow- 
ments. Who  does  not  feel  an  emotion  of  the  sub- 
lime, as  he  contemplates  the  immeasurable  impression 
which  Richard   Baxter  made  on  his  generation,  and 


A  NEW  year's  discourse.  219 

on  succeeding  ages,  though  he  lived  in  an  intolerant 
and  stormy  period  of  the  religious  world's  history? 
Wliat  a  controlling  sway  he  held  over  the  con- 
sciences and  hearts  of  multitudes  !  How  wide,  and 
deep,  and  enduring  the  influence  which  David  Brai- 
nerd  exerted,  even  in  the  state  of  society  which  existed 
in  this  country  almost  a  century  ago  !  And  what 
shall  we  say  of  a  Mills  and  a  Martin,  a  Hall  and  a 
Payson,  ^'  who  being  dead,  yet  speak  ?"  It  is  hardly 
presumptuous  to  sa}^  of  such  spirits,  that,  like  the 
language  of  the  planetary  orbs  on  high,  '^  their  line 
has  gone  out  into  all  tiie  earth,  and  their  words  to 
the  ends  of  the  world."  Now  the  time  must  come, 
nay,  it  has  come,  when  we  ought  to  consider  these 
cases  not  as  exceptions,  but  as  the  legitimate  mea- 
sure of  Christian  influence,  and  fix  our  aim  accord- 
ingly. Let  us  remember,  too,  how  many  more 
facilities  of  making  our  influence  to  be  felt  we  possess, 
in  our  day,  than  did  these  holy  men.  What  an  eas}^, 
rapid,  and  extensive  intercourse  can  we  now  have 
with  society,  compared  with  that  enjoyed  half  a 
century  since!  With  what  a  multitude  of  minds  can 
Christian  character  come  in  contact  in  a  compara- 
tively short  period!  How  much  more  available  is 
the  power  of  holy  example  now  than  in  those  past 
days,  when  population  was  more  sparse,  and  tlie 
means  of  personal  intercourse  more  restricted!  What 
an  organ  of  extended  Christian  influence  does  the 
religious  press  constitute !  This,  under  God,  is  to  be 
the  angel  of  Christendom,  "standing  in  the  sun," — 
tlie  great  dispenser  of  the  Church's  moral  light  to 
the  world.  Think,  too,  what  instruments  of  power 
are  put  into  the  hands  of  Christians  by  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  great  benevolent  societies  of  these  times. 


220  THE  WISE   RECKONING  OF  TIME. 

They  can  thus  truly  extend  themselves,  in  an  im- 
portant sense/*  beyond  their  measure," — can  stretch 
out  the  arm  of  mercy  and  pour  light  on  the  dark- 
ness and  miseries  of  the  whole  earth.  We  can 
cause  our  Christian  influence  to  be  felt  alike  in  the 
regions  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  our  own  land, 
and  along  the  rivers  and  bays,  the  hills  and  valleys, 
of  Asia  and  Africa.  Besides,  that  very  excitability 
of  the  popular  mind,  which  we  have  alreadj^  noticed, 
furnishes  a  peculiar  facility  for  an  extended  Chris- 
tian influence.  There  is  a  strange  moveableness  in 
the  general  mind  of  society.  An  illustrious  ex- 
emplification of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  history  of 
the  temperance  reform.  The  popular  mind  has 
become  susceptible  of  being  set  in  motion  now,  by 
causes  that  a  quarter  of  a  century  since  might  have 
exerted  all  their  power  without  attracting  notice. 
Society  craves  excitement  of  some  kind,  and  will 
have  it.  Why,  then,  should  not  the  representatives 
of  Christ — the  lights  of  the  world — make  their  in- 
fluence to  be  felt  ex'ensively  ?  The  world  is  not 
<^  without  souls  " — men  have  consciences  and  hearts 

they  have  hopes  and  fears  respecting  an  eternal 

hereafter.  Why,  then,  should  not  the  exhibition  of 
the  high  attributes  of  Christian  character — the  power 
of  pre-eminently  holy  example— if  brought  in  ear- 
nest upon  the  mass  of  ruined  yet  immortal  mind, 
beo-in  to  make  that  mass  heave  and  move  under  the 
impulse,  heavenward!  Has  not  that  Christianity 
which  we  profess,  the  elements  of  a  mightier  excite- 
ment to  the  popular  mind  than  commerce,  internal 
improvement,  politics,  literature  or  the  arts  ?  It 
certainly  had,  as  lived  out  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and 
primitive  followers.     It  superseded  the  excitement 


A  NEW  YEAR  S  DISCOURSE.  221 

of  Judaism  at  Jerusalem,  of  philosophy  at  Athens, 
and  of  arms  at  Rome,  and  became  the  object  of  absorb- 
ing interest  to  the  then  known  world.  Christianity 
is  still  unaltered,  and  that  human  nature  on  which  it 
is  to  operate  is  the  same.  If  the  solitary  influence 
of  Paul,  then,  circled  half  the  civilized  world,  what 
a  mighty  reach  combined  Christian  influence  might 
now  inake  on  the  ready  excitability  of  the  general 
mind  !  Let  the  church  of  God,  then,  wake  up,  and 
in  wisely  numbering  their  days  let  Christians  count 
on  an  indefinite  extension  of  their  moral  power. 
Let  them  aim  at  nothing  less  than  an  influence  which 
shall  break  up  the  monotony  of  sin  and  death,  and 
move  the  entire  fountains  of  the  great  deep  of  thought 
and  feeling  in  human  society.  This  is  the  only  ex- 
citement that  is  safe  for  man,  or  that  will  satisfy  the 
popular  mind.  All  the  agitations  and  tumults  of 
the  race  prove  that  the  soul  of  man,  mighty  even  in 
its  ruins,  is  blindly  reaching  after  those  objects  of 
exciting  magnitude  and  glory,  which  can  alone  be 
found  in  pure  Christianity.  Let  us  determine,  then, 
by  the  grace  of  God ,  to  send  out  a  Christian  influence 
in  a  length  and  breadth  that  shall  control  these  in- 
finite but  ill-directed  aspirations  of  the  immortal 
mind  ! 

Another  consideration  to  urge  us  to  aim  at  extend- 
ing our  Christian  influence  is,  that  the  world  in 
these  days  is  held  in  a  general  expectation  of  some 
vast  movement  about  to  be  made  by  Christians. 

The  world  does  not  calculate  that  the  standard  of 
Christian  character,  and  the  measure  of  Christian  in- 
fluence, will  long  remain  what  they  have  been  and 
now  are.  It  is  presumed  that  piety  will  feel  the 
19* 


222  THE  WISE  RECKONING  OF  TIME, 

impulse  that  is  urging  onward,  with  such  momentum, 
every  department  of  worldly  activity.  The  com- 
munity has  heard  much  about  the  church's  resur- 
rection from  the  sleep  and  moral  death  of  ages! 
The  public  mind  has  been  turned  to  the  recent  mar- 
shalling of  her  forces.  Infidel  jealousy  is  watching 
the  effect  of  her  comprehensive  plans  of  influencing 
the  moral  destinies  of  the  race.  A  multitude  of  un- 
sanctified  hearts  are  brought  within  the  reach  of  her 
deep  and  mighty  sj'mpathies  for  the  miseries  of  the 
whole  world,  and  a  multitude  of  minds  are  eagerly 
contemplating  her  recent  purposes  and  resolves,  that 
that  world  shall  be  redeemed.  Worldly  men  see 
that  the  mind  of  the  church  is  beginning  to  be  turned 
in  expectancy  and  hope  of  a  coming  millennium :  that 
there  is  a  pervading  apprehension  of  the  near  approach 
of  that  grand  crisis  in  which  "  the  kingdom  and  the 
greatness  of  the  kingdom  underthe  whole  heaven  shall 
be  given  to  the  saints  of  the  Most  High  God."  They 
know  that  Oiristians  regard  the  present  as  the  Sa- 
turday evening  of  time:  that  they  are  saying  one  to 
another,  the  Sabbath,  the  great  Sabbath  of  the  world 
"draweth  on."  Worldly  men,  then,  expect  to  see 
the  disciples  of  Christ  coming  forth  in  that  energy 
of  character,  and  that  extended  sweep  of  Christian 
influence,  which  will  prepare  themselves  and  the 
world  for  so  sublime  a  consummation. 

My  Christian  friends,  what  should  prevent  us  from 
determining,  in  reliance  on  God,  that  we  will  meet 
this  expectation  of  the  world?  Nay,  is  not  the  honour 
of  our  holy  religion  perilled,  if  we  fail  to  meet  it?  The 
measure  of  former  attainments,  and  of  former  efibrts, 
will  no  longer  sustain  the  credit  of  Christianity.  If 
we  would   honour  Christ  and  sustain  the  interest  of 


A  NEW  year's  discourse.  223 

his  cause,  we  must  overtake  and  go  beyond  the  an- 
ticipations of  the  world  on  this  subject. 

Lastly:  As  a  motive  to  numbering  our  days 
wisely,  with  reference  to  a  greatly  extended  Chris- 
tian influence,  let  us  frequently  and  solemnly  call  to 
mind  one  grand  end  which  God  has  in  view  in  his 
eternal  existence.  God  lives  and  reigns  with  this, 
amongst  other  great  ends  in  view,  viz.,  that  he  may 
exert  an  influence  in  kind  like  that  of  pure 
Christianity.  It  is  one  great  aim  of  his  being,  to 
bring  forth  and  impress  on  the  minds  of  his  rational 
creation,  the  eternal  truth  and  purity  of  his  own 
character.  He  administers  the  affairs  of  the  universe 
with  the  steady  view  of  exerting  the  highest  and  best 
moral  influence  over  its  intelligent  millions.  Is  it 
not  wise,  then,  in  Christians,  to  count  upon  exerting 
the  greatest  possible  degree  of  the  sar)ie  kind  oi  in- 
fluence ? 

Beloved  brethren,  carry  with  you  through  this 
year,  and  through  life,  the  undying  conviction  that 
progress  in  knowledge,  in  holiness,  and  in  enlarged 
Christian  influence,  is  your  great  business — the 
grand  object  to  be  counted  on  in  your  estimate  of 
time.  And  though  your  days  maj^  be  ^q\\  or  many, 
spend  them  all  under  the  soul-animating  and  heaven- 
ly influence  of  such  an  object.  We  know  not  who 
of  us  are  appointed  unto  death  this  year.  But  for 
such  as  are,  will  it  not  soften  the  dying  pillow  to 
sink  down  upon  it,  not  in  indolence  and  mental 
stupor,  but  in  the  increasing  swiftness  of  our  Chris- 
tian career!  And  will  it  not  add  unspeakably  to 
our  eternal  joy,  to  be  able  to  say  in  death,  "  I  have 
fought  the  good  fight,  I  hsive  flnished  my  course,  I 
have  kept  the  faith?'' 


224  THE  PERFECTION  OF 


SERMON   XI.     . 

THE  PERFECTION  OF  THE  DIVINE  LAW. 
"  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect." — Psalm  six.  7. 

Order  and  harmony  pervade  all  the  works  of  God. 
This  order  and  harmony  are  not  the  result  of  acci- 
dent or  chance.  They  originate  from  the  laws 
which  God  has  established.  The  fixed  and  regular 
alternations  of  night  and  day,  of  spring,  summer,  au- 
tumn and  winter,  the  revolutions  of  the  planets,  and 
all  the  changes  of  the  material  universe,  from  the 
mightiest,  to  the  most  minute,  from  the  dissolution 
of  a  world,  to  the  fall  of  a  single  leaf  of  the  forest, 
occur  in  obedience  to  those  appropriate  laws  which 
God  has  established  to  govern  the  phenomena  of 
matter.  These  physical  laws  are  perfect.  They 
are  suited  to  the  nature  of  the  subjects  to  wliich 
they  apply.  They  operate  uniformly  and  infallibly 
in  producing  the  results  at  which  they  aim.  There 
is  neither  failure  nor  confusion  in  the  great  system 
of  nature.  And  what  is  true  of  these  physical  laws, 
is  equally  true  of  those  laws  that  govern  our  intellec- 
tual nature  merely  as  rational  creatures.  The  suc- 
cession of  thought,  the  origin  of  emotion,  and  cer- 


tiil:  divim:  law.  225 

tain  natural  impulses  to  action,  are  precisely  the 
same  to  a  given  extent  in  all  minds.  This  shows 
that  there  are  established  laws  of  mind,  and  that  they 
are  perfect,  suited  to  the  subjects  to  which  they  are 
applied,  and  securing  uniformly  and  with  certainty, 
the  general  results  at  which  they  aim.  Is  it  not  rea- 
sonable to  suppose,  then,  that  God,  who  has  bound 
all  the  material  and  intellectual  works  of  his  hands 
by  appropriate  and  perfect  laws  which  maintain  order 
and  harmony  through  the  whole,  would  establish 
some  law  for  the  government  of  man's  tnorcil  nature? 
Surely  he  would  not  leave  so  interesting  a  depart- 
ment as  this  lawless.  Of  all  things  else  in  the  uni- 
verse, it  is  least  to  be  expected  that  he  would  aban- 
don those  powers  and  susceptibilities  of  the  soul  that 
fit  it  to  know,  love,  obey,  and  enjoy  God  for  ever  to 
their  own  unguided  action?  We  naturally  look  for 
the  prescriptions  of  lavv  here.  Order  and  harmony 
here  are  of  vastly  more  moment  than  in  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  material  universe.  Accordingly  we 
find  the  moral  law  of  God  extending  its  control  over 
this  entire  department  of  our  nature.  It  claims  to 
regulate  all  the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  actions  that 
belong  to  our  moral  or  spiritual  agencJ^  The  grand 
characteristic  of  this  law  is  furnished  in  the  declara- 
tion of  our  text.  "The  law  of  the  Lord  \s pe7\fecty 
It  will  be  my  object  to  show  that  this  is  true  of  the 
divine  law,  in  whatever  aspect  it  may  be  contem- 
plated. 

I.  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect  in  its  origin  or 
SOURCE.  No  law  deserves  respect  and  obedience 
that  does  not  emanate  from  legitimate  right  and  au- 
thority on  the  part  of  its  maker  or  makers.     Were 


226  THE  PERFECTION  OF 

an  unauthorized  body  of  men,  wise  and  good  men  in 
other  respects,  to  meet  and  enact  laws  in  themselves 
just  and  salutary,  still  such  laws  would  not  be  en- 
titled to  the  reoard  and  observance  of  the  citizens 
because  they  w^ould  not,  in  that  case,  emanate  from 
a  legitimate  source.  The  body  of  men  that  enacted 
them  never  were  invested  with  the  right  or  the 
power  to  legislate.  All  proper  authorit}'  would  be 
wanting;  and  however  the  enactments  of  such  a 
body  of  men  might  assume  the  forms,  and  contain 
all  the  wholesome  provisions  of  good  laws,  they 
w'ould  in  fact  be  no  laws.  Their  origin,  or  source, 
would  destroy  their  claim  to  respect  and  obedience. 
But  "  the  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect'^  in  its  very 
origin  or  source.  It  emanates  from  that  eternal 
Mind  which  possesses  in  itself  an  independent,  per- 
fect right,  an  absolute  and  infinite  authority  to  le- 
gislate for  all  the  rational  creation.  This  right  and 
authorit}'  rest  upon  the  attributes  of  God,  and  the  re- 
lations which  he  holds  to  his  intelligent  creatures. 
It  is  not  an  arbitrary  right  and  authority.  God's 
self-existence,  independence,  omniscience,  omnipo- 
tence, wisdom,  benevolence,  justice,  holiness,  truth 
and  immutability  form  the  highestqualifications,  and 
give  the  most  absolute  and  perfect  right  to  legislate 
of  which  we  can  possibly-  conceive.  His  relations 
to  his  intelligent  creatures  as  their  Creator,  upholder, 
benefactor,and  moral  governor,  give  him  an  authority 
over  them  commensurate  with  all  the  capacities  and 
powers  of  their  immortal  being;  an  authority  like 
these  relations  on  which  it  is  founded,  changeless,  in- 
finite, eternal.  The  law  of  the  Lord  emanates  from 
these  perfections  of  his  nature,  is  the  bright  transcript 


THE  DIVINE  LAW.  227 

of  them,  claims  obedience,  and  carries  with  it  the 
sanction  of  an  authority  grand  and  august  as  those 
exalted  and  eternal  relations  which  he  sustains  to  liis 
rational  creatures.  Coming  from  the  counsels,  and 
imbodying  the  perfections  of  Jehovah's  mind  with 
the  bi-oad  seal  o^  his  right  and  his  authority  upon  it, 
is  not  the  law  of  the  Lord  jjerfect  in  respect  to  its 
origin  or  source?  Has  any  law  besides  in  the 
wide  universe  a  claim  so  perfect,  a  source  so 
sublime? 

II.  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect /;i  the  equity 
of  its  requirements.  In  the  legislation  of  man, 
nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  enact  laws  tliat 
shall  neither  require  too  much  nor  too  little  of  the 
subjects.  The  inst:mces  of  iiuman  legislation  in 
whicii  the  principle  of  requirement  can  be  so  gradu- 
ated as  not  to  operate  injuriously,  if  not  unjustly  on 
some,  are  extremely  few.  This  probably  results 
from  the  fact  that  human  knowledge  is  not  compe- 
tent to  ascertain  the  precise  abilities  of  those  for 
whom  it  legislates.  We  therefore  take  the  medium 
capacities  of  the  subjects,  and  make  a  general  law 
which  will  not  apply  with  strict  justice  to  either  ex- 
treme. And  this  is  all  that  finite  and  fidlible  le^is- 
lation  can  do.  By  consequence,  the  requirements  of 
all  human  laws  are  less  or  more  imperfect.  But  not 
so  tiie  law  of  the  Lord.  Its  principle  of  requirement 
is  graduated  with  perfect  exactitude  to  the  actual  ca- 
pacity of  each  subject  to  whom  it  is  applied.  '-  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might,  and  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself."  The  peculiarity  of  this  re- 
quii'ement  is,  that  it  does  not-prescribe  a  definite  2Ln(\ 


228  THE  PERFECTION  OF 

specific  amount  of  the  thing  demanded,  without  re- 
ference to  the  ability  of  the  individual.  It  makes 
the  actual  capacities  of  each  one  the  measure  of  obe- 
dience. That  tliis  is  the  great  rule  of  the  divine  re- 
quirements, is  plain  from  the  parable  of  the  talents. 
The  man  who  received  the  one  talent,  was  not  con- 
demned because  he  had  not  gained  five  talents,  but 
simply  because  he  had  not  improved  the  one  which 
he  actually  had.  We  have  direct  proof  of  this  truth 
in  respect  to  the  requirement  of  the  divine  law,  from 
the  New  Testament.  ^'If  there  be  first  a  willing 
mind,  it  is  required  of  a  man  according  to  that  he 
hath,  and  not  according  to  that  he  hath  not.^^  God's 
law  makes  obligation  commensurate  only  with  actual 
ability.*  The  law  of  the  Lord  does  not  require  the 
uneducated  individual  of  small  capacities,  to  love  him 
with  all  the  heart,  soul  and  might  of  Paul.  It  takes 
no  one  individual  or  number  of  individuals,  as  the 
measure  for  all  the  rest.  It  exacts  not  a  thought,  a 
feeling  or  an  action  from  any  one  in  the  universe  be- 
yond h\s  present  actual  capacity.  It  is  with  all  his 
own  tnight  that  each  individual  is  required  to  love 
God.  It  is  not  love  of  a  specific  amount,  nor  love 
exercised  by  a  certain  fixed  degree  of  capacity  thnt 
is  required,  but  simply  the  love  of  the  whole  heart, 
soul,  and  might  of  the  individual,  whatever  may  be 
the  relative  degree  of  his  capacities.  Till  men,tlien, 
have  neitlier  heart,  soul,  nor  might  in  the  lowest  de- 
gree, they  must  not  complain  of  the  equity  of  the  re- 
quirements of  the  law  of  the  Lord.  Its  principle  of 
requirement  is  absolutely  perfect.  How  admirably 
it  adapts  itself  to  all  the  diversify  of  capacities  in  the 

"  I  nsc  thf  tf'im  in  the  sense  of  phyf^icnl  rnpacifij. 


THE   DIVINE   LAW.  229 

intelligent  universe!  It  claims  of  Gabriel  m  less 
than  all  that  he  is  able  to  do,  and  it  requires  of  the 
Hottentot,  to  whom  it  is  made  known,  no  more  than 
his  stinted  capacities  enable  him  to  perform.     "Each 

ONE  ACCORDING  TO  HIS  SEVERAL  ABILITY,"  is  written 

in  capitals  of  li2;ht  over  the  table  of  the  divine  law. 
Hence  our  blessed  Lord  represents  the  unreasonable- 
ness and  criminality  of  that  servant  who  had  received 
one  talent,  in  saying,  "  I  knew  thee,  that  thou  art  an 
austere  man,  reaping  that  thou  didst  not  sow,  and 
gathering  that  thou  didst  not  strew."  This  is  a  gross 
libel  on  the  equity  of  the  law  of  the  Lord.  Its  de- 
mands are  graduated  with  perfect  precision  to  the 
ability  of  every  rational  being  throughout  the  empire 
of  God.  Its  principle  of  requirement  is  so  perfect 
that  it  will  never  need  to  be  altered.  This  principle 
has  a  power  of  self-adjustment,  by  which  it  adapts 
itself  with  exact  justice  to  the  varying  capacities  of 
the  same  individual  at  different  periods  in  his  ex- 
istence. Between  the  capacities  of  "  a  babe  in 
Christ,"  and  those  of  a  perfected  s|)irit  in  glory,  there 
are  many  degrees,  a  vast  increase  of  ability  acquired 
through  successive  periods.  Yet  this  simple  though 
sublime  principle  of  requirement  applies  with  perfect 
equity  through,  all  this  increase  of  capacities  in  the  sub- 
ject. When  a  babe  in  Christ,  itonly  required  the  whole 
infant  heart,  soul,  and  might,  when  "a  perfect  man," 
it  requires  still  only  all  the  manly  hearty  soul,  and 
might.  To  a  spirit  of  the  just  made  perfect  in 
heaven,  it  speaks  the  same  language, — "  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart."  It  only 
claims  of  the  subject,  then,  what  his  actual  ability 
fits  him  to  render.  You  may  trace  this  principle  of 
20 


230  THE  PERFECTION  OF 

requirement  in  its  application  to  all  the  rational  sub- 
jects of  God,  amidst  all  their  changes  and  through  all 
the  periods  of  their  existence  for  ever,  and  in  no  cir- 
cumstances and  at  no  time  does  it  ever  claim  aught 
beyond  the  actual  capacity  of  the  individual.  It  de- 
mands no  impossibilities.  Its  successive  claims  on 
man  through  time  and  through  eternity,  are  always, 
and  will  be  always,  brought  strictly  within  the  limits 
of  his  natural  faculties  as  a  creature  of  God,  though 
they  may  have  no  reference  to  the  degree  of  his  moral 
disposition  to  obey.  What  a  difference  between  this 
principle  of  requirement,  and  thatof  any  human  enact- 
ment! "The  law  of  the  Lord  is  jye^^/ec^  "  in  its 
requirements.  Those  requirements  are  founded  on 
the  infinite  equity  of  the  Divine  mind,  and  commend 
themselves  to  the  conscience  of  mankind,  and  to 
their  natural  sense  of  right  and  justice. 

III.  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect  as  to  the  extent 
of  its  requirements.  Human  laws  seldom  aim  at 
more  than  to  regulate  the  outward  actions  of  men. 
It  is  but  a  part  of  these  that  can  be  embraced  within 
the  commands  and  prohibitions  of  man's  legislation. 
The  thoughts, the  purposes,  the  motives  and  intention 
of  the  mind  itself,  lie  beyond  the  recognition  and 
control  of  human  law.  A  negative  external  morality, 
therefore,  is  all  that  the  best  laws  of  man's  enactment 
can  produce.  How  different  is  the  law  of  the  Lord! 
The  psalmist  was  struck  with  this  difference,  when 
he  devoutly  exclaimed, — "But  thy  commandment 
is  exceeding  broad." — "  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  per- 
fect, converting  the  soul."  It  aims  to  control  the 
entire  inner  and  outer  man.  It  extends  its  require- 
ments at  once  to  all  the  secrets  of  the  heart.     Those 


THE  DIVINE  LAW.  231 

powers  of  hidden  imaginings,  of  concealed  plans  and 
purposes,  those  capabilities  of  deep  emotion  in  the  re- 
tirements of  the  soul,  to  which  finite  penetration 
cannot  have  access,  the  motives  and  intentions  of  the 
mind  known  onl}^  to  Omniscience,  the  law  of  the 
Lord  claims  all  these  for  Jehovah.  These  form  an 
important  part  of  that  luholc  heart,  soul,  and  might 
with  which  man  is  to  love  the  Lord  his  God.  Not 
a  faculty  or  power  of  our  being  is  exempt  for  one 
moment  from  the  claims  of  the  law  of  the  Lord. 
Not  a  talent,  habit,  or  facility  of  obedience  which  we 
may  obtain  by  the  exercise  of  our  powers,  but  is  re- 
quired of  us  as  soon  as  it  is  our  own.  This  law  re- 
signs no  hour  of  our  time  to  be  squandered,  no  pri- 
vilege to  be  neglected,  no  opportunity  of  doing  or  of 
getting  good,  to  be  lost,  no  period  of  Indolence  to  the 
affections,  no  pause  to  the  untiring  activities  of  the 
soul.  From  the  moment  that  moral  agency  com- 
mences, through  all  the  progressions  of  our  immortal 
existence,  the  whole  heart,  soul,  and  might  with  all 
their  enlarging  capacities  and  augmenting  strength, 
are  claimed  for  God.  Perfect  and  perpetual  obe- 
dience to  the  full  extent  of  our  natural  ability,  and 
through  the  whole  duration  of  our  being,  is  the  grand 
essential  requirement  of  the  law  of  the  Lord.  And 
yet  this  very  perfection  is  the  ground  of  the  incessant 
war  which  sinners  are  waging  against  the  law  of  God. 
They  cannot  complain  that  this  law  requires  more  of 
them  than  their  natural  faculties  would  render  it  pos- 
sible for  them  to  perform,  but  they  quarrel  with  it, 
just  because  it  is  so  exceedingly  broad,  and  does  re- 
quire ALL,  the  UTMOST  of  their  present  natural  ability. 
Now  this  is  no  unimportant  characteristic  of  the  per- 
fection of  God's  law.     It  is  this  which  renders  the 


232  THE  PERFECTION  OF 

perfection  of  its  requirements  pre-eminently  con„ 
spicuous.  If  this  law  emanates  from  the  perfection 
of  Jehovah,  and  derives  its  authority  from  the  rela- 
tions which  he  sustains  to  men  as  their  Creator,  Pre- 
server, Benefactor,  and  moral  Governor,  would  it  not 
be  a  glaring  imperfection  were  the  law  to  claim  less 
of  them  than  their  capacities  enabled  them  to  render? 
Would  not  such  a  limited  requirement  convey  to  the 
universe  a  false  impression  respecting  the  rights  and 
authority  of  God  over  his  creatures?  If  he  has  a 
right  to  any  obedience  from  them,  has  he  not  a  right 
to  all  that  they  can  render,  with  the  powers  he  him- 
self has  bestowed  on  them  ?  If,  as  God  their  Creator 
and  Governor,  he  has  any  authority  over  them,  must 
it  not  necessarily  be  absolute,  perfect,  extending  to 
their  entwe  capacities?  Again,  if  the  law  of  the 
Lord  be  the  appropriate  rule  of  man's  moral  nature, 
and  if  obedience  to  it  be  the  means  of  man's  highest 
happiness,  then  how  could  God  by  requiring  less 
than  man's  capacities  enabled  him  to  render,  permit 
a  part  of  his  moral  powers  to  be  without  control,  and 
a  part  of  the  happiness  which  would  result  from  en- 
tire obedience  to  be  lost  to  him  for  ever?  No;  it  is 
the  perfection  and  glory  of  the  law  of  the  Lord,  that 
while  it  does  not  in  any  case  require  aught  of  the 
subject  beyond  his  actual  capacity,  whatever  that 
may  be,  yet  it  does  demand  all  the  heart,  soul,  and 
might.  It  brings  its  broad  claims  over  all  those 
powers  of  our  being  with  which  God  has  endowed 
us,  and  would  bind  them  to  his  throne  in  everlasting 
loyally  and  obedience. 

IV.  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  ^^\{^z\.in  respect  of  its 
penalty.     To  some  this  announcement  will  doubtless 


THE  DIVINE  LAW.  233 

sound  strangely;  for  it  is  the  j)cnalty  of  God's  law 
that  disturbs  the  peace  and  awakens  the  enmity  of 
the  depraved  heart.  Men  would  care  very  little  how 
extensive  and  rigid  might  be  the  requirements  of  the 
divine  law,  were  they  enforced  by  no  sanction  or 
penalty.  Here  lies  their  great  objection  to  the  law 
of  the  Lord,  its  tremendous  penalty.  We  might 
answer  this  objection  by  simply  affirming  what  every 
intelligent  thinking  man  will  acknowledge  to  be  true, 
that  is,  that  it  would  be  no  law  at  all  ivithout  a  pe- 
nalty, it  would  then  be  mere  powerless  counsel  or 
advice.  The  two  great  objections  to  the  law  of  the 
Lord  in  respect  to  its  penalty,  are  these:  that  it  con- 
demns for  the  first  act  of  violation,  and  denounces 
so  awful  a  punishment  as  eternal  misery  on  the  un- 
redeemed transgressor.  Now  we  think  that  we  can 
show  that  these  two  characteristics  are  the  very  per- 
fection of  a  penalty.  Let  us  inquire  for  a  moment 
what  is  the  nature  and  the  design  of  tiie  penalty 
which  God  has  annexed  to  his  law.  God  never 
affixed  a  penalty  to  his  law,  merely  with  the  design 
that  his  rational  creatures  should  incur  that  penalty 
as  an  end,  the  same  as  that  they  should  obtain  the 
rewards  of  obedience  as  an  ultimate  end.  Nor  did 
he  annex  the  penalty  to  his  law  for  the  sake  of  the 
misery  it  inflicts  on  the  transgressor,  in  itself  con- 
sidered and  as  an  ulterior  end.  Nothing  but  un- 
mixed malignity  could  prompt  to  a  penalty  whose 
only  aim  was  this.  The  penalty  of  the  divine  law 
is  not  in  itself  an  ultimate  end,  it  does  not  aim  at 
producing  the  miseries  that  it  threatens  for  their 
own  sake,  and  as  Wig  final  result  which  it  proposes 
to  accomplish.  The  penalty  of  God's  law  is  not  an 
20* 


234  THE  PERFECTION  OF 

end,  but  a  means^ — a  means  of  what? — a  means  in- 
tended to  prevent  transgression,  and  those  natural 
consequences  of  misery  which  are  connected  with 
transjj;ression,  independent  of  the  direct  inflictions  of 
a  positive  penalty.  The  ulterior  end,  then,  proposed 
to  l)e  attained  by  the  penalty  of  the  divine  law,  is  the 
prevention  of  sin  and  misery,  and  the prornoliofi  of 
the  highest  happiness  of  intelligent  creature-.*  Now, 
this  beino;  the  nature  and  design  of  the  penalty,  let 
us  see  what  kind  of  penal  13^  would  be  best  adapted 
as  a  means  to  the  attainment  of  the  proposed  end, 
namely:  to  prevent  sin  and  misery,  and  to  promote 
holiness  and  happiness.  On  tvhai  principle  does 
the  penally  propose  to  gain  this  great  end?  Ob- 
viously by  operating  on  man's  fears,  on  his  instinc- 
tive dread  and  recoiling  from  pain.  Now  suppose 
the  penalty  was  not  incurred  by  tl  e  Jirst  sin,  sup- 
pose the  law  connived  at  ninety-nine  sins,  and 
brought  down  its  penalt}^  on  the  hundredth,  or  at 
nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  and  threatened  its 
penalty  on  the  thousandth:  in  what  conceivable  way 
would  this  operate  on  man's  fears  of  transg;rpssing, 
and  prevent  that  habit  and  that  reckless  hardihood  of 
sinning,  which  would  secure  with  certainty  the  hun- 
dredth or  the  thousandtli  sin  on  which  the  penalty 
would  be  inflicted?  Would  the  motive  be  as  pow- 
erful and  perfect  in  this  case,  as  if  the  penalty  held 

*  The  author  does  not  mean  to  affiiTQ  that  the  vindication  of  God's 
own  character,  and  the  exhibition  of  hs  abhorrence  of  sin,  is  not  an 
end  to  be  attained  by  the  penalty  of  the  law.  But  is  it  not  an  end 
having  refei-ence  to  a  higher  and  ultimate  one,  namely:  that  of  pro- 
moting the  greatest  degree  of  holiness  and  happiness  in  his  universal 
and  eternal  empire,  by  this  very  vindication  of  his  own  character,  and 
Ihis  expression  of  His  righteous  hatred  against  sinl 


THE  DIVINE  LAW.  235 

its  thunders  ready  to  burst  on  the  very  first  trans- 
gression? By  no  means.  It  would  detract  immea- 
surably from  its  force  on  the  fears  of  man,  give  a 
false  impression  of  God's  feelings  respecting  sin,  and 
a  license  to  tiie  sinner  that  would  with  certainty 
bring  him  under  the  penalty  at  last. 

Suppose  the  iniseries  which  the  penalty  threatens 
to  the  finally  incorrigible,  and  unredeemed  violator, 
were  less  than  the  woes  of  a  ruined  eternity,  were 
finite,  and,  therefore,  to  an  immortal  being,  compa- 
ratively trivial?  How  would  this  tend  to  secure 
the  great  end  which  the  penalty  has  in  view,  namely, 
to  deter  from  sin  and  consequent  suffering,  and  to 
promote  holiness  and  consequent  happiness?  If  the 
passion  of  fear  be  appealed  to  at  all,  why  not  make  the 
appeal  as  powerful  as  possible.  If  the  promptings  of  a 
slight  fear  would  tend  to  prevent  men  from  sinning 
and  suffering,  would  not  the  most  powerful  impulses 
of  this  passion  tend  much  more  certainly  to  secure 
this  result?  If  the  passion  of  fear,  in  its  highest  ex- 
citement, be  a  necessary  auxiliary  amongst  the  means 
and  the  motives  that  are  to  save  men  from  sin  and 
misery,  then  would  it  be  benevolent  in  God  to  alBx 
a  penalty  to  his  law  that  would  only  excite  that  pas- 
sion a  little?  Two  things  are  now  perfectly  plain. 
1.  The  passion  of  fear  being  quick  and  strong,  may 
be  used  as  an  impulse  to  prevent  man  from  sinning 
and  suffering.  2.  In  order  to  be  so  used  with  the  best 
effect,  the  motive  that  appeals  to  it,  must  be  as  pow- 
erful and  perfect  as  it  can  possibly  be  made.  Now 
the  infinite  and  eternal  woes,  which  the  penalty  of 
God's  law  denounces  on  the  finally  incorrigible  trans- 
gressor, is  the  most  powerful  motive  that  could  be 


236  THE  PERFECTION  OF 

brought  to  operate  on  his  fears.  Could  you  subtract 
aught  from  these  woes,  and  not  at  the  same  time  in- 
evitably weaken  one  motive  necessary  to  prevent 
man  from  incurring  those  woes, — the  motive  that  ap- 
peals to  his  fears  ?  Keeping  in  view  the  nature  and 
design  of  the  penalty,  remembering  that  God^s  be- 
nevolence  led  him  to  adopt  it  as  a  means  of  pre- 
venting sin  and  misery,  and  of  promoting  holiness 
and  happiness,  and  that  it  can  secure  this  end  only  in 
proportion  as  it  operates  effectually  on  the  fears  of 
men,  and  who  can  gainsay  the  truth  of  the  text,  that 
"  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,"  even  in  respect 
to  its  PENALTY  ?  In  that  stern  condemnation  which 
it  passes  on  \\\q  first  sin,  and  in  that  tremendous  ag- 
gregation of  woes  present  and  future,  which  it  de- 
nounces on  the  transgressor,  shine  out  the  perfection 
of  the  penalty.  Herein  is  seen  the  infinite  benevo- 
lence of  God,  in  giving  the  greatest  possible  power, 
and  the  wisest  adaptation  to  that  motive  designed  to 
operate  on  the  fears  of  man,  and  to  shield  him  from 
the  greatest  evils  and  secure  to  him  the  richest 
blessings  that  pertain  to  his  mortal  and  immortal  na- 
ture. 

V.  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect  in  Us  tendency 
to  promote  happiness.  The  gain  to  human  happiness 
from  the  best  legislation  of  man,  is  comparatively 
trifling.  Its  influence  on  happiness  is  negative  and 
indirect.  Human  law  aims  rather  at  preventing  mi- 
sery, than  at  promoting  positive  happiness.  Its  pre- 
cepts and  its  prohibitions  do  not  extend  their  control 
over  those  great  moral  elements  within  the  mind 
itself,  on  whose  government  the  highest  happiness  of 
man  depends.     The  conscience  and  the  heart,  with 


THE  DIVINE  LAW.  237 

all  their  susceptibilities,  the  inward  temper,  the  prin- 
ciples, the  hal)its,  the  motives  and  ruh'no;  purpose  of 
the  soul,  spurn  the  restraints  that  human  enactments 
would  impose  on  them.  Yet  it  is  by  the  wise  regu- 
lations of  these  powers  of  man's  moral  agency,  that 
his  highest  happiness  is  secured.  Now  these  are  the 
very  powers  over  which  the  law  of  the  Lord  asserts 
its  supremacy.  In  order  to  estimate  the  perfection 
of  this  law,  in  its  tendency  to  promote  happiness, 
we  must  contemplate  what  the  result  would  be,  were 
it  perfectly  and  perpetually  obeyed.  Suppose  every 
man  on  earth  were  swayed  supremely  by  the  law 
of  the  Lord,  and  were  constantly  exercising  to  God, 
and  to  his  neighbour,  the  love  that  it  requires. 
What  would  be  the  effect  on  individual  and  social 
happiness]  No  one  would  feel  the  uneasiness  of  an 
inordinate  desire,  the  plague  of  a  malignant  passion 
or  emotion,  the  violent  and  painful  impulse  of  ungo- 
verned  appetites,  and  vicious  propensities;  regret,  re- 
morse, self-condemnation  and  all  the  woes  of  a  guilty 
conscience  would  be  unknown;  avarice,  ambition, 
jealousies,  strifes,  emulations,  rivalry,  envy,  pride, 
intrigue,  dishonesty,  falsehood,  tale-bearing,  back- 
biting, whisperings  and  evil  surmisings,  would  cease 
lo  torment  the  individual  or  afflict  society.  Family 
feuds,  neighbourhood  quarrels,  intestine  and  national 
wars  would  cease  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Profane- 
ness,  intemperance,  licentiousness,  theft,  robbery  and 
murder,  would  no  longer  inflirt  their  giant  miseries 
on  man.  There  would  be  no  harrowing  forebodings 
of  evil  to  the  individual  or  to  societ}',  no  dejection, 
gloom  and  despondency,  to  drive  men  to  madness 
and  suicide.     What  a  mighty  aggregation  of  evils, 


238  THE  PERFECTION  OF 

of  positive  miseries,  would  thus  be  removed  by  obe- 
dience to  the  divine  law.  Then  think  of  the  posi- 
tive happiness  that  would  thus  be  promoted.  Each 
mind  under  the  absolute  sway  of  a  law,  the  wisest 
and  best  adapted  to  its  moral  nature,  that  the  infinite 
God  could  frame.  Each  one  filled  with  the  peace  of 
God;  "for  great  peace  have  they  that  love  his  law." 
All  the  powers  of  the  soul  balanced,  harmonized  and 
brought  under  the  control  of  supreme  love  to  God; 
made  to  act  rightly,  to  have  the  approbation  of  con- 
science, and  a  sense  of  the  smiles  of  Heaven,  the 
mind,  with  all  its  powers  and  susceptibilities,  occu- 
pied and  absorbed  in  love,  adoration,  praise,  gratitude 
and  devotion  to  God?  These  exercises,  in  their 
very  nature,  are  adapted  to  promote  the  greatest  hap- 
piness of  rational  beings.  Then  think  of  the  inces- 
sant exercise  of  the  benevolent  afifections  to  his  fellow 
men,  the  love  that  like  an  angel  of  mercy  is  ever 
active  in  relieving  the  wants,  and  soothing  the  woes 
of  the  poor  and  afflicted,  the  charity  that  "thinketh 
no  evil,"  but  "  sufTereth  long,  and  is  kind,"  the  bene- 
volence that  is  ever  forming  and  executing  plans  for 
the  social,  intellectual  and  spiritual  improvement  and 
happiness  of  the  race,  the  affection  that  pours  its  ar- 
dent prayers  at  the  footstool  of  God,  for  the  temporal 
and  eternal  well  being  of  man,  and  the  untiring  ac- 
tivity in  every  department  of  Christian  enterprise 
where  the  interests  and  happiness  of  one's  fellow 
men  may  be  promoted.  Wiiatan  exalted  enjoyment 
must  such  a  play  of  the  benevolent  affections  secure? 
What  union,  harmony,  peace,  brotherly-kindness, 
jo)'^,  what  cultivation  of  all  the  noblest  powers  of 
human  nature,  what  advancement  in  all  the  virtues 


THE  DIVINE  LAW.  230 

lliat  adorn  and  bless  rational  beings,  what  a  moral 
elevation,  what  high  hopes  and  infinite  aspirations, 
what  a  sublime  aggregate  of  human  happiness  to  the 
race  would  be  the  necessary  result  of  perfect  obe- 
dience to  the  law  of  the  Lord.  This  is  the  legiti- 
mate tendency  of  the  divine  law.  The  very  love  to 
God  and  to  man  which  it  requires,  and  which  is  the 
spirit  of  obedience,  is  the  most  exalted  affection,  and 
the  exercise  of  it  the  most  ennobling  employment  of 
the  rational  and  moral  powers  of  our  nature.  It 
allies  us,  and  brings  us  into  fraternity  and  fellowship 
with  God,  and  with  all  the  good  of  the  universe.  It 
makes  us  like  to  God.  P'or  "there  is  not  a  more 
amiable,  attractive  nor  comprehensive  idea  of  the  di- 
vine Being  any  where  to  be  found,  than  that  which 
is  exhibited  by  the  apostle  John  in  three  words, 
"  God  is  love."  It  is,  therefore,  the  very  element 
and  essence  of  Jehovah's  happiness,  and  must  be  so 
to  every  rational,  intelligent  creature.  Such,  then, 
is  the  nature  and  tendency  on  happiness  of  that  love 
which  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law\  And  the  actual 
sum  of  happiness  which  the  law  of  the  Lord  has  se- 
cured, and  will  secure  to  the  universe,  none  but  God 
himself  can  compute.  What  has  secured  all  the  hap- 
piness that  has  been  enjoyed  by  angels,  cherubim, 
and  seraphim,  thrones,  principalities,  and  powers  in 
heavenly  places,  by  all  the  unfallen  intelligences  in 
God's  dominions?  Perfect  obedience  to  the  law  of  the 
Lord.  What  will  secure  the  augmenting  happiness 
of  all  these  myriads,  and  mighty  orders  of  beings 
through  eternity]  Perfect, perpetual  obedience  to 
the  law  of  the  Lord.  What  makes  the  bliss  of  hea- 
ven and  of  the  holy  universe,  so  different  now  from 


240  THE  PERFECTION  OF 

thefewand  scattered  joys  of  earth?  Simply  because 
there  God's  law  is  obeyed  universally,  perfectly,  and 
perpetually.  Those  holy  throngs,  amidst  their  high 
ho-annahs  and  rapturous  bliss,  might  well  exclaim, 
*'The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect;"  wonderful  in  its 
influence  on  the  happiness  of  the  intelligent  creation. 

Lastly. — The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect  in  re- 
spect to  its  continuance  or  duration. 

The  progress  and  changes  of  societ37-  require  the 
best  human  Uuvs  to  undergo  modifications,  or  to  be 
repealed.  Their  duration  is  necessarily  limited,  and 
like  all  the  other  products  of  imperfect  minds,  they 
pass  away.  But  the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth  for 
ever,  his  law  is  perpetual.  Founded  on  his  own 
perfections,  and  on  those  immutable  relations  which 
He  holds  to  His  creatures,  perfect  in  the  equity  and 
extent  of  its  requirements,  graduating  its  claims 
always  within  the  actual  ability  of  the  subject,  and 
tending  to  promote  his  highest  happiness, — the  di- 
vine law  is  applicable  to  all  intelligent  creatures,  at 
all  times  during  their  eternal  existence.  It  has  a 
wonderful  facility  of  adjustment,  by  which  it  is  justly 
applicable  to  all  rational  creatures,  amidst  all  the 
changes  of  time,  circumstances,  and  capacity  which 
may  characterize  their  immortal  history.  The  law 
is  as  applicable,  as  holy,  just,  and  good  in  its  demands 
on  Satan  now,  as  when  he  shone  an  unfallen  spirit  in 
primeval  holiness  before  the  throne  of  God.  No 
change  of  circumstances,  no  progressions  of  time,  no 
apostacy  from  God,  and  no  degree  of  depravity  and 
rebellion  in  the  subjects,  can  ever  require  the  altera- 
tion or  repeal  of  the  law  of  the  Lord.  It  is  the  law 
of  the  moral  nature  of  all  intelliscences,  the  infallible 


THE  DIVINE  LAW.  241 

rule  of  right,  truth,  and  duty,  the  safe-guard  of  the 
holiness  and  happiness  of  the  universe,  and  while 
these  continue  to  be  the  great  objects  at  which  I  he 
benevolent  administration  of  God  aims,  the  law  will 
remain  to  protect  and  promote  them.  The  convul- 
sions and  revolutions  of  time  cannot  destro}^  it.  The 
fires  of  the  final  conflagration  will  not  consume  one 
of  those  bands,  nor  render  brittle  one  of  those  cords 
by  which  it  binds  all  rational  natures  in  love  supreme 
to  God,  and  benevolence  to  each  other.  After  the 
judgment,  and  onward  for  ever,  it  will  be  the  great 
law  of  God's  eternal  government,  the  grand  ligament 
that  vvill  bind  the  holy  of  all  worlds  to  the  throne  of 
Jehovah  in  immortal  loyalty.  The  law  of  the  Lord 
is  perfect,  for  its  duration  will  be  parallel  wnth  the 
existence  of  that  infinite  Mind  from  which  it  ema- 
nated. 

In  the  light  of  this  subject  we  can  see  some- 
thing of  the  malignity  of  sin.  Every  sin  is  a 
violation  of  this  perfect  glorious  law.  It  is  an  in- 
sult offered  to  those  perfections,  and  a  disregard  of 
those  relations  of  God  to  his  creatures,  on  which  the 
divine  law  is  founded.  It  is  a  libel  on  the  justice  of 
the  law,  an  attempt  to  weaken  its  authorit}^,  to  throw 
off"  tlie  restraints  which  it  imposes  on  human  depra- 
vity, to  abandon  to  lawless  anarchy  tiie  moral  powers 
of  the  soul,  to  destroy  the  holiness  and  iiappiness 
w^hich  the  law  aims  to  promote,  to  dethrone  God, 
and  to  spread  malevolence,  misrule,  and  misery  over 
his  wide  empire.  If  the  law  of  the  Lord  be  such  as  has 
now  been  described,  this  is  the  nature  and  tendency 
of  all  sin.  0,  what  an  awful  malignity  characterizes 
every  violation  of  this  law !  What  must  be  the  guilt 
21 


242  THE  PERFECTION  OF 

contracted  by  the  reckless  and  habitual  transgression 
of  such  a  law?  What  but  the  woes  of  an  eternal 
hell  could  be  an  adequate  punishment  for  wilful,  per- 
severing, and  final  rebellion  against  such  a  law? 

Finally.  In  the  light  of  this  subject,  we  see  how 
hopeless  it  is  for  sinners  to  wage  war  with,  and 
rebel  against  the  law  of  the  Lord. 

How  can  men  expect  to  be  successful  in  such  a 
contest?  They  can  never  have  a  sense  of  justice  on 
their  side,  nor  the  approbation  of  their  own  con- 
sciences. When  men  resist  human  laws,  and  attempt 
to  procure  their  abrogation,  they  do  so  by  pointing 
out  the  defects  of  the  laws,  the  injustice  of  their  re- 
quirements, their  unequal  and  injurious  operations 
in  certain  specific  cases.  Treason,  and  the  mad 
spirit  of  revolution,  have  to  make  some  show  of  grie- 
vances resulting  from  the  application  and  bearings  of 
the  laws  they  would  annul.  But  what  objection  can 
the  sinner  bring  against  the  law  of  the  Lord?  What 
plea  can  he  offer  for  resisting  that  law?  And  what 
power  can  his  puny  arm  wield  to  alter  or  abate  one 
of  its  righteous  demands?  None.  Tiie  perfections 
of  God's  nature.  His  relations  to  His  creatures,  the 
interests  of  holiness  and  the  happiness  of  the  intelli- 
gent universe,  all  stand  pledged  to  sustain  the  divine 
law.  While  God  occupies  the  throne,  and  while  in- 
finite benevolence  reigns  triumphant  there,  intent  on 
securing  the  purity  and  the  bliss  of  all  rational  intel- 
ligences, so  long  will  His  perfect  law  be  sustained  by 
all  the  right  and  authority  that  Jehovah  can  give  to 
it.  That  law  will  remain,  and  press  its  uncompro- 
mising claims  on  every  moral  subject  in  the  universe, 
till  he  eitlier  acknowledges  its  equity,  and   bows  in 


THE  DIVINE  LAW.  2i3 

obedience  to  its  requirements,  or  continues  his  fruit- 
less and  mad  rebellion,  till  he  falls  the  hopeless 
victim  of  that  eternal  weight  of  woes  which  its  pe- 
nalty will  inflict  on  the  finally  disobedient.  Wo  to 
him  that  striveth  with  his  Maker.  Sinner,  what  can 
you  hope  for,  if  you  continue  to  rebel  against  the 
holy  and  perfect  law  of  the  Lord?  Nothing,  nothing 
but  a  "certain  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and 
fiery  indignation,  that  shall  devour  the  adversaries.'' 


244  GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER. 


SERMON    XIL 


GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER. 

«  Who  teacheth  like  him?"— Job  xxxvii.  22. 

Man  has  no  innate  or  hereditary  knowledge.  Be- 
yond a  few  simple  sensations,  belonging  merely 
to  animal  life,  the  inHintile  mind  knows  nothing. 
Each  individual  of  our  race,  as  he  comes  into  the 
world,  is  wholly  dependent  for  his  knowledge  of 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  on  sources  of  instruction 
out  of  himself.  He  learns  the  properties  and  relations 
of  matter  by  the  teachings  of  natural  objects  around 
him,  by  the  impressions  which  those  objects  make  on 
the  mind,  through  the  medium  of  the  senses.  He 
learns  other  things  that  pertain  to  the  present  life, 
by  the  instructions  and  example  of  parents,  and 
those  who  are  superior  to  him  in  age  and  expe- 
rience. If  man  be  thus  dependent  on  external  sources 
of  instruction  for  the  knowledge  that  fits  him  for  the 
duties  and  enjoyments  of  his  present  existence,  how 
much  more  as  an  apostate  from  God,  a  depraved  sin- 
ner, is  he  dependent  on  some  source  of  teaching  out 
of  himself  for  that  spiritual  knowledge  which  is  to 
fit  him  for  his  duty  and  enjoyment  here,  and  for  his 
high  destinies  hereafter.  "The  natural  man  receiveth 
not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  neither  indeed 


GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER.  245 

can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  dis- 
cerned." Our  depraved  race  have  evinced  a  wonder- 
ful slowness  of  heart  to  believe,  and  to  understand 
the  things  that  belong  to  their  peace.  If  these  things 
arc  ever  clearly  and  practically  taught  to  them,  it  must 
be  from  some  source  of  instruction,  without  and  be- 
yond tliemselves.  The  great  means  of  instruction 
on  this  subject  are  tlie  works,  the  ways,  the  word, 
and  the  ordinances  of  God. 

Job's  friends  endeavoured  to  convince  him  that 
God's  afflictive  providences  to  him  were  designed  to 
teach  him  a  lesson,  either  that  he  was  insincere,  hy- 
pocritical in  his  profession  as  a  saint,  or  that  he  had 
been  guilty  of  some  known  and  flagrant  sin.  While 
they  erred  in  the  application  of  certain  great  and  ge- 
neral principles  to  Job's  particular  case,  they  never- 
theless uttered  many  important  and  pertinent  truths. 
They  falsely  supposed  that  Job  had  cherished  some 
secret  and  heinous  sin  for  which  God  was  afflicting 
him,  and  of  which  they  supposed  God  meant  to  con- 
vict him,  and  to  teach  him  the  evil  in  the  most  im- 
pressive manner  by  his  judgments.  "  Take  heed, 
regard  not  iniquity,  for  this  hast  thou  chosen  rather 
than  affliction.  Behold  God  exalteth  by  his  power. 
Who  teacheth  like  him  ?"  This  question,  it  is  taken 
for  granted,  is  unanswerable.  JVone  can  teach  like 
God. 

My  object  in  this  discourse  shall  be  to  illustrate 
this  jjosition,  or  to  show  the  incomparable  excel- 
lence of  God^s  teaching.  Let  it  be  remembered, 
that  his  teaching  refers  to  the  communication  o^  Di- 
vine truth  to  the  human  mind. 

I.  I  remark,  in  the  first  place ^  then,  that  none  can 
21* 


246       GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER. 

teach  like  God,  because  none  has  so  intimate  a 
knowledge  as  he  of  the  things  taught.  The  great 
secret  of  successful  leaching,  consists  in  one's  being 
intimately  and  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  facts 
or  truths  which  he  altempts  to  communicate.  We 
can  never  convey  to  another  an  idea  or  conception 
more  clear  and  definite  than  it  exists  in  our  own  minds. 
When  a  writer  or  speaker  is  obscure  or  unintelligible, 
it  is  because  his  knowledge  of  the  subjects  of  which  he 
treats,  is  vague,  partial,  and  defective.  Obscurity  of 
thoui^htj  makes  obscurity  in  style,  either  in  writing  or 
speaking.  When  a  mind  has  clear,  well  defined,  ac- 
curate views  on  any  subject,  it  can  communicate  them 
intelligibly  to  others.  The  common  remark,  that  we 
have  an  idea  of  a. thing,  but  cannot  express  it  or  con- 
vey it  to  another,  is  unphilosophical  and  untrue,  ex- 
cept where  there  is  some  remarkable  deficiency  in 
the  command  of  language.  In  proportion  as  any 
mind  has  a  familiar,  correct,  comprehensive  know- 
ledge of  the  truths  to  be  taught,  in  the  same  ratio 
will  he  be  a  successful  teacher.  Now  apply  this 
principle  to  the  communication  of  the  knowledge  of 
Divine  truth  to  the  human  mind,  and  in  this  respect, 
who  can  teach  like  God?  His  knowledge  of  the 
whole  circle  of  universal  and  eternal  truth  is  intui- 
tive and  absolute.  His  omniscience  necessarily  com- 
prehends all  actual  Bnd  all  possible  knowledge.  "He 
that  planted  the  ear,  shall  he  not  hear?  He  that 
formed  the  eye,  shall  he  not  see?"  "His  under- 
standing is  infinite."  How  intimate,  all-compre- 
hending, absolute,  is  his  knowledge  of  the  things  to  be 
taught!  Isman  to  betaughtthe  knowledge  of  theDi- 
vine  attributes,  the  glorious  perfections  of  Jehovah's 


GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER.        247 

nature  ?  These  are  the  essential  qualities  of  that  infi- 
nite JMind  which  undertakes  to  teach  them, — they 
live  in  the  bright  consciousness  of  that  Mind, — are 
seen,  and  felt,  every  moment  just  as  they  exist, — their 
distinctions  marked  with  infinite  precision, — their 
blended  and  contrasted  glories,  loved  and  admired  by 
the  eternal  Mind  in  which  they  inhere.  If  tiiere  be 
point  in  that  inspired  question,  '^For  what  man 
knoweth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man, 
which  is  in  him,"  there  is  still  greater  pertinency  in 
the  declaration,  "even  so,  the  things  of  God  knoweth 
no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God."  He  has  an  intimate 
absolute,  infinite  knowledge  of  his  own  attributes. 
Who  then  can  teach  in  this  respect  like  him?  Is  man 
to  be  taught  the  great  principles  of  God's  providence 
over  the  world?  Who  understands  so  thoroughly 
as  God,  the  constitution  of  that  kingdom  which  ruleth 
over  all?  that  kingdom  which  includes  all  the 
movements,  and  adjusts  all  the  events  from  the  great- 
est to  the  least,  that  fill  up  the  entire  history  of  this 
terrestrial  scene?  Who  knows  as  God  does,  the  plan 
of  that  providence  so  all-comprehending,  and  yet  so 
minute  in  its  operations,  as  to  embrace  alike  the  rise 
and  ruin  of  empires,  and  the  fall  of  a  sparrow  ?  It 
is  his  own  plan.  It  originated  in  his  own  infinite 
mind.  His  Divine  wisdom  and  benevolence  formed 
it.  In  all  its  parts,  and  from  its  comniencement  to 
its  close,  it  lies  as  a  perfect  transparency,  spread  out 
before  his  omniscience!  His  omnipotence  is  con- 
stantly presiding  over  all  its  movements,  and  exe- 
cuting this  plan  with  infinite  exactitude.  Has  he  not 
the  mostfamiliar,perfect  knowledge  of  the  grand  prin- 
ciples of  his  universal  providence  ?     Who  can  teach 


248  GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER. 

them  like  him?  Again:  is  man  to  be  taught  the 
great  truths  of  the  plan  of  salvation  ?  Is  he  to  be 
made  to  comprehend  something  of  the  mysteries  of 
eternal  love  and  mercy  that  are  to  be  developed  in 
time  and  consummated  in  immortalit}^  by  this  mighty 
scheme?  Who  knows  this  scheme  as  God  knows 
it?  It  is  all  his  own,  it  was  laid  in  his  eternal  coun- 
sels-— it  occupied  his  mind  "  of  old  from  everlasting." 
His  infinite,  eternal  love  suggested  it — that  love 
formed  the  wondrous  plan,  and  is  activel}^  carrying 
it  out  in  the  redemption  of  the  world.  It  is,  per- 
haps, the  grandest  plan  of  tlie  divine  Mind — the  dar- 
ling object  of  Jehovah's  administration  over  the  uni- 
verse— embracing  more  disclosures  of  the  amiable 
perfections  of  his  own  nature — involving  greater  in- 
terests of  his  intelligent  empire,  and  destined  to  wind 
up  with  a  more  overwhelming  glory  than  will  sig- 
nalize the  consummation  of  any  of  the  Divine  plans. 
The  constitution  of  this  scheme — the  great  principles 
which  it  contains — the  provisions  which  it  makes  for 
the  lost — the  conditions  on  which  those  provisions 
are  available,  the  blessedness  it  secures  if  accepted, 
and  the  woes  that  are  incurred  by  its  rejection,  these 
all  lie  naked  and  open  before  that  infinite  Mind, 
which  devised  and  is  executing  this  scheme.  That 
Mind  has  the  most  perfect,  comprehensive,  absolute 
knowledge  of  this  whole  scheme  in  its  origin,  com- 
mencement, progress,  completion,  and  eternal  results  I 
Who  can  teach  the  great  truths  of  redemption  like 
Godi 

II.  None  can  teach  like  him,  because  God  has 
the  most  intimate  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the 
mind  to  be  instructed. 


GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER.  249 

Ignorance  of  the  nature  and  properties  of  the  thing 
to  be  operated  upon,  is  the  certain  cause  of  failure  in 
any  effort  or  enterprise.  A  knowledge  of  the  ope- 
rations and  laws  of  the  mind  is  indispensably  neces- 
sary to  successful  teacliing.  Ail  analogy  proves 
this.  If  a  man  be  ignorant  of  the  qualities  of  certain 
chemical  substances,  he  could  not,  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  perform  with  them  a  successful  experiment. 
No  man  could  play  upon  an  instrument  whose  parts 
and  powers  he  did  not  understand.  And  this  is  equal- 
ly true  in  the  communication  of  instruction  to  the 
human  mind, — that  may  be  regarded  as  an  instru- 
ment of  exquisite  mechanism,  with  a  thousand  springs 
of  delicate  and  nice  adjustment.  How  can  an  igno- 
rant hand  touch  those  springs,  and  put  in  motion  and 
control  the  action  of  this  wonderful,  mental  machi- 
nery? Especially,  how  can  one  ignorant  of  the 
moral  susceptibilities  of  the  mind,  hope  to  commu- 
nicate divine  truth  to  it  successfully?  It  is  obvious 
that  just  in  proportion  as  any  one  has  clear,  correct, 
and  enlarged  views  of  the  entire  nature  and  capabili- 
ties of  the  mind,  in  the  same  proportion  can  he  teach 
— can  he  influence  that  mind  by  truth.  Now  in 
this  respect  God  has  an  infinite  advantage  as  a  teach- 
er. He  knows  "what  is  in  man."  He  is  "the  Fa- 
ther of  our  spirits."  He  made  the  human  mind. 
Its  constitution,  its  powers,  its  susceptibilities,  the 
laws  that  regulate  its  operations  and  its  capabilities 
of  receiving  knowledge,  and  of  being  influenced  by 
truth — all  these  are  immediately  under  the  eye  of 
the  Creator.  They  are  all  the  product  of  his  form- 
ing skill — the  objects  now  of  his  upholding  power. 
The  particular  degree  of  capacity,  the  adaptation  of 


250        GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER. 

every  faculty  in  each  individual  mind  to  be  culti- 
vated, and  impressed  by  the  teachings  of  truth,  God 
knows  with  absolute  certainty,  and  precision.  Be- 
hold him,  then,  with  the  human  mind,  the  offspring 
of  his  own  creating  power  and  goodness,  directly 
under  the  focus  of  his  own  omniscient  eye — its  en- 
tire nature  revealed  in  the  light  of  that  eye — all  its 
operations,  even  to  the  secret  thought  afar  off,  seen 
through,  and  understood  with  a  perfect,  divine  intui- 
tion! Who  can  teach  like  him  whose  knowledge 
has  thus  compassed  the  path  of  the  mind,  and  is  ac- 
quainted with  all  its  ways;  and  has  beset  it  behind 
and  before,  and  laid  his  hand  upon  it? 

III.  None  can  teach  like  him,  because  God  can 
avail  himself  of  certain  stales  of  the  mind,  and  of  certain 
outward  means  of  communicating  instruction  as  no  one 
else  can. 

It  is  well  known,  how  much  the  success  of  teach- 
ing depends  upon  the  particular  state  of  the  mind  at 
the  time  instruction  is  communicated.  "A  word 
fitly  spoken,  is  like  apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  sil- 
ver." Instructions,  the  most  important,  are  often 
lost  by  being  imparted  when  the  mind  happens  to 
be  in  a  particular  state,  which  renders  it  incapable,  for 
the  time,  of  attending  to  them.  So,  on  the  other 
hand,  some  of  the  most  favourable  opportunities  for 
communicating  truth,  and  of  making  an  enduring 
impression,  are  lost  by  our  ignorance  at  the  time  of 
the  particular /ayoura^/e  state  of  the  mind  which  we 
would  teach.  In  the  same  manner  we  fail  of  employ- 
ing the  particular  means  of  instruction  that  would  be 
best  adapted  to  be  successful  in  a  given  case.  No  finite 
teacher  can  know,  with  certainty,  numerous  secret 


GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER.        251 

states  of  mind  in  the  individual  pre-eminently  favour- 
able to  the  inculcationj  and  the  reception  of  divine 
truth.     But  the  infinite  God  labours  under  no  such 
disadvantage.      He   not  only   knows  the  adaptation 
of  truth  to  tiie  mind,  and  the  general  nature  and  ori- 
ginal susceptibilities  o^  the  mind,  but  he  is  intimately 
acquainted  with  lis  most  secret  and  transient  states, 
and  emotions; — all  its  thoughts  and  feelings,  at  all 
times,  are  "  written  in  his  book  '' — are  subject  to  his 
all-comprehending,  all-penetrating  inspection.     With 
a  knowledge  so  familiar  and  perfect  as  God's,  re- 
specting all  the  varying  successive  conditions  of  the 
mind,  how  easily  can  he  avail  himself  of  the  favoured 
moment,  and  ingraft  the  truth  upon  the  mind,  when 
in  a  state  the  most  favourable  for  receiving  and  re- 
taining instruction.     How  many  of  the  righteous  in 
all  ages  have  blessed  him  in  time,  and  will  adore  him 
through  eternity,for  that  incessant  omniscience  which 
watched  the   secret   workings   of  their   hearts,  and 
seized  upon  some  temporary  state  known  only  to  him 
when  the  saving  truths  of  the  gospel  were  success- 
fully taught  to  them.      Who  but  God  knew  that  un- 
suspected,   unprecedented    state    of    the     Sandwich 
Islanders'  minds,  just  previously  to  the  arrival  of  the 
Afnerican    missionaries   amongst  them?       A    pagan 
people  renouncing  their  idols,  and  disgusted  with  the 
orgies  of  heathenism  !     Just  at  this  crisis,  while  they 
were  in  this  state,  the  strong  hand  of  his  providence 
sent  them   the   heralds  of  the  cross  to  teach   them 
Christ  crucified. 

Thus  God  knows,  vvitii  infinite  accuracy,  the  en- 
tire, hidden  history  of  every  mind.  Every  successive 
thought  and  feeling,  however  transient,  passes  imme- 


252        GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHEK. 

diately  under  His  comprehensive  gaze,  and  with  in- 
finite skill  and  tact  he  can  avail  himself  of  the  very 
state  that  will  secure  complete  success  io  His  teaching. 
So  with  this  perfect  knowledge  of  the  various  states 
of  the  mind,  He  can  avail  himself  of  those  outward 
means  of  instruction  best  adapted  to  a  particular  state 
of  the  mind.  In  the  means  that  we  employ  to  com- 
municate truth,  we  often  ''draw  a  bow  at  a  ven- 
ture." We  sometimes  attempt  to  teach  an  indivi- 
dual from  the  works  of  creation,  when  he  is  in  a 
mood  only  to  be  instructed  and  benefited  by  con- 
templating the  ways  of  God's  providence,  or  the  di- 
rect truths  of  His  holy  word.  We  know  not  the  se- 
crets of  the  heart,  the  silent  and  often  changing  states 
of  the  mind,  and  how  should  we  know  what/?flr//- 
cular  means  of  instruction  would  be  best  adapted  at 
a  given  time,  and  in  an  individual  case?  But  God's 
unerring  wisdom  enables  Him  to  select  and  employ 
those  external  means  precisely  fitted  to  be  most 
effective  in  every  particular  case  where  they  are  ap- 
plied. The  mind,  with  all  its  capacities  and  present 
feelings,  and  the  works  of  creation,  of  providence, 
and  of  grace,  with  all  their  adaptations,  are  open  be- 
fore the  Lord,  and  under  His  absolute  control.  What 
should  prevent  Him  from  selecting  from  this  wide 
range  of  instrumentality,  just  those  means  that  are 
most  eminently  fitted  to  conve}^  truth  with  trium- 
phant success  to  the  soul.  When  His  omniscience 
sees  the  heart  softened  or  subdued,  in  view  of  the 
beauty  or  sublimity  of  the  landscape  by  day,  or  in 
view  of  the  more  solemn  and  august  grandeur  of  the 
heavens  by  night,  how  easily  and  appropriately  can 
God  speak  then  in  the  murmuring  brook,  reveal  His 


GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER.  253 

loveliness  in  every  flower  and  shrub,  mirror  His  own 
calm  and  bright  image  in  the  expanse  of  waters,  or 
shine  from  every  star  that  studs  the  diadem  of  night 
in  the  glories  of  His  eternal  power  and  Godhead, 
and  thus  teach,  most  impressively,  the  lessons  of  His 
wisdom,  benevolence,  and  might.  When  the  mind, 
from  any  cause,  is  disposed  to  contemplate  the  deal- 
ings of  God,  and  recognise  His  hand  in  the  events  of 
life,  and  almost  every  mind  has  such  moments,  how 
readily  can  God  then,  in  the  course  of  His  providence, 
introduce,  just  at  that  juncture,  a  prosperous  event, 
whose  winning  lesson  of  goodness  will  melt  and  gain 
the  heart,  or  an  adverse  one,  whose  lesson  of  just  se- 
verity will  teach  most  effectively  the  folly,  guilt  and 
presumption  of  rebelling  against  God,  and  bow  the 
soul  in  submission  to  Him.  So  He  who  sees  at  a 
glance  all  the  adaptations  of  the  truths  of  the  Bible 
to  every  variety  of  feeling  in  the  mind,  can  select 
and  bring  to  bear  upon  that  mind,  those  very  truths 
that  will  "be  as  a  nail  fastened  in  a  sure  place,^' 
truths  that  will  shed  celestial  light  and  spiritual  life 
through  the  soul,  teaching  the  sinner  his  condition 
and  prospects,  his  duty  and  destiny,  and  transforming 
him  into  the  image  of  his  God.  "Who  teacheth 
like  Him?" — whose  knowledge  includes  every  se- 
cret state  of  the  mind,  and  who  has  at  command  all 
the  grand  resources  of  creation,  providence,  and  the 
scheme  of  redemption,  from  which  to  choose  the 
means  of  man's  instruction. 

IV".  No  one  can  teach  like  Him,  because  God  can 

employ  an  agency  to  give  truth  access  to  the  heart 

ivhich  no  one  else  can  emj^loy,  the  agency  of  the 

Holy  Spirit.     In  our  attempts  at  teaching,  we  ad- 

22 


254        GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER. 

dress  the  ear  and  the  eye,  and  hope  thus  to  affect  the 
heart.  We  have  to  employ  language  and  symbols 
that  appeal  to  the  mind,  and  can  affect  it  only  through 
the  medium  of  the  senses.  Our  power  is  limited  to 
the  impressions  which  we  make  on  the  external  or- 
gans. We  have  no  access  to  the  mind  directly. 
We  have  no  means  of  exerting  a  direct  influence  on 
that  mysterious  connexion  between  impressions  on 
the  senses,  and  the  sensations  or  emotions  of  the 
mind  which  they  are  adapted  to  produce.  Could  we 
communicate  immediately  with  the  mind  itself,  and 
find  our  knowledge  and  our  feelings  brought  in  con- 
tact with  the  mind  without  going  through  the  me- 
dium of  the  senses,  how  much  greater  might  be  our 
influence  in  teaching  and  controlling  others.  But 
all  cur  efforts  stop  with  the  outward  senses,  the 
mind  itself  lies  beyond  our  direct  control,  and  free 
and  independent  of  any  constraint  from  us,  it  volun- 
tarily yields  to,  or  resists  the  impressions  which  we 
make  on  the  senses.  But  God  has  an  agency  that 
reaches  the  mind  and  the  heart  directly,  without  the 
necessity  of  addressing  the  external  senses.  "  The 
Spirit  of  God  searcheth  all  things.''  The  Holy 
Ghost  has  an  immediate  access  to  the  soul.  Its  con- 
trol over  all  the  susceptibilities  of  our  intellectual  and 
moral  nature  is  direct  and  absolute.  It  can  make 
its  silent  visits  to  the  mind,  can  pervade  the  mind 
with  its  mysterious  presence,  can  sway  all  the 
powers  of  the  soul,  opening  the  understanding, 
quickening  the  conscience — rectifying  the  reason — 
subduing  the  heart,  and  rendering  the  whole  man 
meek  and  docile,  without  addressing  the  eye  and  the 
ear,  or  necessarily  depending  on  the  senses  as  the 
medium  of  its  influence.     This  is  obvious  from  the 


GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER.  255 

fact  that  the  same  truths  presented  in  the  same  man- 
ner, and  that  have  failed  a  hundred  times  to  produce 
any  abiding  or  salutary  effect,  become,  on  certain  oc- 
casions, the  means  of  the  soul's  conversion.  The 
difference  in  the  result  is  not  at  all  attributable  to 
any  difference  in  the  outward  administration  of  the 
truth,  but  simply  to  the  direct  immediate  influence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  mind  itself.  Now  with  such 
an  agency  as  this,  omniscient,  omnipresent,  that  can 
penetrate  and  pervade  the  whole  mind  with  a  direct 
influence  in  no  way  dependent  on  the  senses,  that 
can  affect  every  susceptibility  of  the  soul,  and  con- 
trol all  its  states,  what  should  hinder  the  teaching  of 
God  from  triumphant  success?  Besides,  this  is  "  the 
Spirit  of  truth,''  the  Spirit  that  dictates  those  divine 
truths  that  are  to  be  taught  to  man.  It  knows  the 
relations  of  truth  to  the  susceptibilities  of  our  nature, 
the  adaptation  of  particular  truths  to  those  states  of 
mind  which  it  produces  by  its  own  direct  influence. 
And  it  is  a  part  of  its  sacred  office,  to  take  of  the 
things  of  Christ,  and  show  them  to  the  soul,  to  lead 
man  into  all  truth.  What  then  should  prevent  the 
Holy  Spirit  from  winging  the  arrows  of  truth  with 
unerring  aim?  What  should  prevent  His  teachings 
from  reaching  the  heart,  and  making  man  wise  unto 
salvation?  Who  can  teach  like  God  by  the  sublime 
agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost?  No  wonder  that  His 
"  doctrine  shall  drop  as  the  rain,  and  His  speech 
distil  as  the  dew,  as  the  small  rain  upon  the  tender 
herb,  and  as  the  showers  upon  the  grass ;'^  for  this 
glorious  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  like  the  silent 
but  powerful  elements  of  nature,  all-pervading,  is  ope- 
rating unseen,  and  by  irresistible  laws,  is  accomplish- 
ing the  enlightenment  and  redemption  of  souls. 


256  GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER. 

V.  Lastly. — No  one  can  teach  like  him,  because 
God  employs  mightier  sanciions  than  any  one  else  to  en- 
force his  instructions.     Most  minds  evince  a  striking 
indisposition  to  make  acquisitions  of  useful  know- 
ledge.    In  teaching  the  ordinary  branches  of  educa- 
tion the  pupils  have  to  be  stimulated  by  hopes  and 
fears — by  the  prospect  of  rewards  and  punishments. 
But  all  the  motives  we  can  bring  to  enforce  our  in- 
structions in  human  or  divine  knowledge  are  tem- 
porary   and    comparatively    trivial.     We    can    tell 
those  whom  we  teach  of  the  pleasures  of  learning — 
the    advantages  of  knowledge — to    stimulate    their 
love  of  happiness  and  their  hopes, — and  we  can  tell 
them  of  the  miseries  and  disadvantages  of  ignorance 
to  operate  on  their  instinctive  aversion  to  pain  and 
their  fears.     But  we  have  no  great  sanctions  of  our 
own  that  we  can  urge  authoritatively  upon  them  to 
secure  the  effect  of  our  instructions.     Now  the  sanc- 
tions of  God,  like  himself,  are  infmite.     In  his  first 
lesson  with  the  sinner  he  meets  him  with  the  as- 
tounding declaration — "  Hear,  and  your  soul  shall 
LIVE.''     The  implication   is,  that  if  you  refuse  to 
hear   God's  teachings,  the  penalty  of  your  refusal  is 
eternal   death!     God  has  perilled  the  life  of  your 
soul  on  your  hearing,  or  refusing  to  hear  his  instruc- 
tions.    This  is  a  tremendous  alternative,  and  puts  an 
infinite  difference    between    GocVs  instructions  and 
those  of  any  other.     Your  eternal  all  is  at  stake  in 
this  matter!     It  is  not  left  to  your  option  whether 
you  will  hear  or  forbear.     Results,  vast  as  the  happi- 
ness or  the  misery  of  your  whole  being  for  time  and 
eternity,  are  to  follow  your  reception  or  rejection  of 
God's  teaching.     To  win  upon  your  love  of  happi- 


GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER.  257 

ness,  and  your  susceptibility  of  hope,  God  tells  you, 
if  you  hear  him,  your  soul  shall  live.     A  new  spiri- 
tual life  in  the  play  of  its  happy  and  vigorous  func- 
tions shall  commence  within  you,  "  as  a  well  of  water 
springing  up  unto  everlasting  life."     You  shall  have 
righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost 
now; — the  favour  and  friendship  of  God  on  earth, — 
the  protection,  and  all  the  kind   provisions  of  his 
providence, — communion  and  fellowship  with  him 
on  your  earthly  pilgrimage, — his  shield  to  defend 
you  from  its  temptations, — his  consolations  amidst 
its  trials  and  sorrows, — his  strength  to  sustain  you 
under  its  conflicts, — his   grace  to   make  all  things 
work  together  for  your   good,  and  to   give  you  a 
glorious  victory  over  death,  your  last  enemy.     Be- 
yond that,  he  opens  to  you  the  splendours  of  an  eter- 
nal heaven,  with   its  untrammelled   progression   in 
knowledge,  holiness  and  bliss,  and  offers  himself  as 
your  exceeding  great  reward  there,  if  you  will  hear 
the  voice  of  his  teachings  now  !     On  the  other  hand, 
God  has  brought  tremendous  motives  to  operate  on 
your  fears.     It  is  with  infinite  emphasis  that  Jehovah 
hath  said — "  He  that  refuseth  instruction,  hateth  his 
own  soul!"  That  soul  shall  remain  now  under  the  evils 
of  spiritual  death.     It  shall  be  cut  off  from  commu- 
nion with  God — his  frown  will   rest  upon  it — his 
protection  be  withdrawn  from  it  amidst  the  dangers 
and  trials  of  life — his  consolations  withheld  from  it 
amidst  its  conflicts  and  sorrows — "the  stars  in  their 
courses  shall  fight"  against  that  soul  in  its  pathway 
through  the  world,  and  in  death  it  shall  struggle 
alone,  abandoned  of  God,  and  a  prey  to  all  the  fore- 
bodings of  coming  wrath.     And  beyond  that,  God 
22* 


258        GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER. 

discloses  the  gloom  of  an  eternal  hell,  with  its  ray- 
less,  endless  night  of  ignorance,  desertion  and  exile 
from  God,  and  holiness,  and  hope!  O  what  tre- 
mendous sanctions  to  enforce  his  instructions!  Who 
can  teach  like  that  God  who  holds  in  his  hands  the 
interests  and  destinies  of  the  soul  for  two  worlds; 
and  who  can  bring  all  the  happiness  of  obedi- 
ence, or  all  the  horrors  of  disobedience  in  time,  and 
all  the  bliss  or  all  the  wo  of  the  soul  through  a 
whole  eternity,  as  the  sublime  and  awful  sanctions 
by  which  to  secure  the  success  of  his  teaching? 

We  learn  from  this  subject,  in  the  first  place,  how 
great  is  the  privilege  of  Christians,  of  whom  it  is  said  in 
the  Scriptures — "  They  shall  all  be  taught  of  God." 
"  Who  teacheth  like  him?"  What  a  teacher!  The 
infinite  God!!  with  all  the  resources  of  omniscience 
and  omnipotence  at  his  command  !  What  shadow  of 
excuse  has  any  Christian  for  spiritual  ignorance? — for 
being  ^'' a  child  in  understanding?"  What  apology 
has  he  for  not  advancing  beyond  "  the  first  princi- 
ples of  the  doctrine  of  Christ?"  How  will  he  ac- 
count for  not  growing  in  knowledge,  privileged  as 
he  is  to  have  God  as  his  teacher?  What  an  inesti- 
mable privilege!  Christians,  when  you  are  sensible 
of  your  remaining  ignorance,  and  deplore  your 
proneness  to  err — when  you  are  perplexed  to  know 
your  duty,  and  when  you  thirst  for  the  knowledge 
of  divine  things,  then  grasp,  by  faith,  the  blessed 
truth,  that  God  is  your  teacher.  Come  in  the  meek- 
ness of  children,  and  with  a  gracious  docility,  sit 
at  his  feet,  and  learn  of  him.  "  If  any  man  lack  wis- 
dom, let  him  ask  of  God,  who  giveth  liberally,  and 
upbraideth  not."     What  storesof  spiritual  knowledge 


GOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER.        259 

you  might  acquire  under  such  a  teacher!  What  a 
power  might  his  teachings  exert  on  your  Christian 
character — what  a  transformation  into  the  knowledge 
and  true  holiness,  which  constitute  his  own  divine 
image!  How  much  more  intelligence  and  advance- 
ment in  the  divine  life — how  much  more  of  spiritual 
strength  and  of  well  directed  activity  would  mark 
the  church  on  earth,  did  Christians  eagerly  yield  up 
their  whole  souls  to  the  teachings  of  God  !  To 
what  heights  of  knowledge  in  the  present  life  might 
they  not  attain,  did  they  fully  avail  themselves  of 
the  instructions  of  that  God  who  holds  the  mind  and 
the  heart,  with  all  their  susceptibilities,  in  one  hand, 
and  can  fashion  them  to  any  state  at  will,  and  who 
holds  in  the  other  hand  the  resources  of  creation, 
providence,  and  redemption,  and  wields  them  all  at 
his  pleasure,  to  impress  on  the  soul  the  lessons  of 
eternal  truth,  and  fit  it  for  ultimate  perfection  in 
knowledge  !  And  what  a  glorious  prospect  does  this 
subject  open  to  the  believer  in  a  future  world !  God, 
in  the  unclouded  glories  of  his  own  nature,  will  be 
the  teacher  there!  All  "the  deep  things  of  God," 
in  all  worlds  and  systems  of  worlds  throughout  his 
vast  empire,  will  be  unveiled  to  furnish  lessons  and 
illustrations  on  the  stupendous  themes  of  thought  and 
of  emotion  that  are  to  engross  the  intellect  and  the 
heart  of  holy  immortals !  An  eternity  oi such  teach- 
ing will  yet  bring  the  redeemed  spirit  to  see  univei^- 
sal  truth  face  to  face,  and  to  know  even  as  it  shall 
be  known. 

Finally.  What  appeal  shall  be  made  from  this 
subject  to  the  impenitent  who  will  not  hear  Him 
who  speaks  from  heaven?     If  you,  my  dear  hearers 


260       OOD  THE  INCOMPARABLE  TEACHER. 

of  this  class,  have  hitherto  turned  away  your  ear 
from  your  God,  can  I  hope  that  you  will  lend  it  to 
me  now?  No!  Heart-rending  as  it  is,  I  must  close 
by  simply  quoting  from  His  oracles  the  awful  de- 
cision which  God  has  made  and  recorded  for  the 
warning  of  every  one  who  continues  to  refuse  his 
teachings.     "He  shall  die  without  instruction, 

AND  in  the  greatness  OF  HIS  FOLLY  HE  SHALL  GO 

astray.'^ 


THE  PROSPERITY  OF  THE  WICKED  INSECURE.        261 


SERMON    XIII 


THE  PROSPERITY  OF  THE  WICKED  INSECURE. 
"Surely  tliou  didst  set  tliem  in  dippety  places."— Psalm  Ixxiii.  18. 

That  the  enemies  of  God  should  enjoy  so  laro-e  a 
portion  of  temporal  prosperity  whilst  in  active  hos- 
tility to  their  Maker,  is  often  a  matter  of  surprise 
and  perplexity  even  to  good  men.  Indeed  one  of 
the  mysteries  of  the  present  economy  is  how  a  holy 
Godj  bound  to  frown  upon  and  discourage  sin,  can 
exercise  so  much  long-suffering  and  tender  mercy  to 
the  wicked.  This  was  a  subject  of  great  perplexity 
to  the  Psalmist.  It  threw  him  into  temporary  mur- 
muring, and  unbelief.  ^'Behold,  these  are  the  un- 
godly who  prosper  in  the  world;  they  increase  in 
riches.  Verily  I  have  cleansed  my  heart  in  vain 
and  washed  my  hands  in  innocency.  For  all  the 
day  long  have  I  been  plagued,  and  chastened  every 
morning."  To  this  rash  though  momentary  conclu- 
sion the  Psalmist  was  led  by  confining  his  views  to  the 
present,  temporal  allotment  of  the  wicked,  especially 
as  contrasted  with  his  own  adversity  and  afflictions. 
But  God  did  not  permit  him  to  entertain  perma- 
nently this  limited  and  partial  view  of  the  subject. 
The  Psalmist  gives  us  an  interesting  account  of  the 


262  THE  PROSPERITY  OF 

manner  in  which  his  mistake  and  error  were  cor- 
rected. "  When  I  thought  to  know  this,  it  was  too 
painful  for  me,  until  I  went  into  the  sanctuary  of 
God:  then  understood  I  their  end."  God  opened  his 
eyes  in  the  light  of  the  sanctuary  to  see  the  ultimate 
end — the  closing  catastrophe  of  all  this  tantalizing 
present  prosperity  of  the  wicked.  As  soon  as  the 
Psalmist  looked  beyond  the  present  moment,  he  was 
convinced  that  he  had  made  a  false  estimate  of  the 
prosperity  of  God^s  enemies.  He  exclaims,  "  Surely 
Thou  didst  set  them  in  slippery  places.  Thou  castedst 
them  down  into  destruction.  How  are  they  brought 
into  desolation,  as  in  a  moment.  They  are  utterly 
consumed  with  terrors.  As  a  dream  when  one 
awaketh,  so,  0  Lord,  when  thou  awakest.  Thou  shalt 
despise  their  image!"  He  thus  became  deeply  con- 
vinced that  he  had  been  unnecessarily  excited,  and 
had  made  a  false  and  exaggerated  estimate  of  the 
prosperity  of  the  ungodly.  ^»'Thus  my  heart  was 
grieved,  and  I  was  pricked  in  my  reins:  so  foolish  was 
I  and  ignorant;  I  was  as  a  beast  before  thee."  He 
now  saw  how  insecure  was  the  prosperity  of  the 
wicked,  and  how  soon  it  would  be  succeeded  by  a 
desolation  and  destruction  the  most  appalling. 

I  propose,  in  the  subsequent  remarks,  to  present 
some  considerations,  showing  the  insecurity  of  the  pros- 
perity of  the  wicked.  "Surely  Thou  didst  set  them  in 
slippery  places."  The  whole  significancy  of  this 
metaphor  refers  to  the  insecurity  of  the  wicked  in 
their  temporal  prosperity.  The  chances  of  a  sudden 
and  sad  reversal  to  them  are  the  same  as  the  chances 
of  falling  are  to  an  individual  who  stands  on  an  ex- 
ceedingly slippery  precipice. 


THE  WICKED  INSECURE.  263 

I.  That  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  is  extremely 
insecure,  may  be  argued  from  the  fact  that  it  is  not 
founded  on  the  favour  of  God.  Temporal  favours, 
I  know,  are  often  interpreted  as  an  evidence  of  Di- 
vine approbation  on  their  recipients.  Wlien  the 
wicked  prosper  and  increase  in  riches — when  the 
cup  of  their  common  blessings  overflows — when  they 
have  more  than  heart  could  wish,  and  their  eyes 
stand  out  with  fatness — when  an  unclouded  sun  pours 
its  beams  of  gladness  on  their  way,  they  are  prone  to 
mistake  it  for  the  light  of  God's  countenance  and  the 
smiles  of  his  approval.  Yet  God  has  guarded  against 
this  mistake  by  most  express  instructions:  "No  man 
knoweth  either  love  or  hatred  by  all  that  is  before 
them.  All  things  come  alike  to  all.  There  is  one 
event  to  the  righteous  and  to  the  wicked,  to  the 
good,  and  to  the  clean  and  to  the  unclean — to  him 
that  sacrificeth  and  to  him  that  sacrificeth  not.'^ 
God  once  granted  Israel  a  king  and  royal  splendour 
in  his  wrath,  and  on  another  occasion,  "  he  gave 
them  their  request,  but  sent  leanness  into  their 
souls."  Whatever  may  be  the  wise  and  benevolent 
purposes  which  God  designs  to  effect  by  the  pros- 
perity of  the  wicked,  that  prosperity  is  not  founded 
in  his  favour  to  them  personally  !  It  is  granted  to 
them  on  other  grounds  altogether — My  ungodly 
hearers,  your  continued  life  and  health,  your  homes 
and  domestic  comforts — your  happiness  resulting 
from  the  ties  of  kindred — your  social  joys — the  bless- 
ings of  civilization  and  refinement — that  competency 
or  wealth  which  supplies  you  with  all  the  means 
of  physical  gratification  and  personal  aggrandize- 
ment, are  not  conferred  on  you^  because  God  has  any 


264  '  THE  PROSPERITY  OF 

complacency  in  your  character  as  impenitent  sinners, 
or  because  he  connives  at  your  rebellion  against  him, 
or  means  to  let  your  transgressions  pass  unpunished. 
These  are  not  the  favours  of  a  reconciled  God.  Not- 
withstanding all  the  rich  treasures  of  his  good- 
ness which  he  is  lavishing  on  you  constantly,  it  is  a 
solemn  truth,  that  ^^  God  is  angry  with  the  wicked 
every  day."  These  blessings  are  no  evidence  of  his 
approbation  toward  you!  Your  entire  worldly  pros- 
perity, however  bright  and  dazzling,  must  not  be 
mistaken  for  the  smiles  of  approving  Heaven  on  your 
guilty  career.  That  prosperity  not  being  founded 
in  the  favour  of  God,  must  of  course  be  insecure. 
That  God,  who  has  an  absolute  control  over  every 
element  of  your  physical  comfort  and  temporal  pros- 
perity is  your  enemy.  He  can  arm  every  atom  by 
which  you  are  surrounded,  with  a  sting  to  avenge 
his  insulted  majesty,  and  make  the  stars  in  their 
courses  to  fight  against  you  in  your  impenitence  and 
rebellion  !  What  security,  then,  can  you  have  in 
your  worldly  prosperity?  Will  God  always  nou- 
rish you  and  bring  you  up  as  children,  when  you 
strike  the  envenomed  shaft  into  the  very  bosom  that 
cherishes  you  ?  May  not  the  limit  of  his  goodness 
in  your  case  soon  be  reached,  and  all  the  purposes  to 
be  eflfected  by  your  temporal  prosperity  be  speedily 
accomplished  ?  Whether  the  exuberant  temporal 
favours  which  he  bestows  on  you,  be  intended  to 
give  to  the  present  world  a  specimen  of  the  riches  of 
his  goodness  to  the  evil  and  unthankful,  or  to  try 
you  and  prove  your  hearts,  or  to  test  the  faith  and 
patience,  the  confidence  and  submission  of  his  own 
afflicted  people,  may  they  not  soon  fulfil  these  de- 


THE  WICKED  INSECURE.  265 

signs  and  be  for  ever  recalled  from  you,  their  guilty 
abusers?  So  long  as  your  prosperity  flows  not  from 
the  favour  and  faithfulness  of  a  reconciled  God,  ought 
you  not  to  feel  that  you  are  set  in  slippery  places, 
and  that  the  tragic  hour  of  sad  reversal  dravveth 
nigh  ? 

II.  That  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  is  insecure, 
may  be  argued /ro?n  the  uncertain  and  temporary 
nature  of  the  very  elements  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed. As  it  has  no  foundation  in  the  favour  of 
God,  so  it  has  nothing  spiritual  and  permanent  in  its 
nature.  It  is  a  prosperity  disconnected  with  the 
moral  and  immortal  part  of  man.  It  does  not  consist 
in  "righteousness  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy- 
Ghost  " — it  is  not  the  high  and  satisfying  conscious- 
ness of  well  doing — it  is  not  the  rejoicings  of  a  par- 
doned, redeemed  soul  with  a  sense  of  the  divine 
favour,  a  feeling  of  being  possessed  of  '^durable 
riches^'' — with  the  faith  and  hopes,  and  triumphs  of 
the  gospel,  and  the  prospects  of  a  blessed  immortali- 
ty. This  is  sjyiritual  prosperity,  a  prosperity  whose 
very  elements  are  permanent  as  the  being  of  mind, 
and  immutable  as  the  purposes  and  grace  of  an  un- 
changing God.  No;  the  elements  of  the  worldly 
prosperity  of  the  wicked  are  infinitely  diverse  from 
these! !  One  element  of  this  latter  prosperity  is  ihe 
good  opinion  of  others.  How  many  are  placed  in 
offices  of  honour  and  emolument,  and  raised  to  a 
giddy  and  dazzling  height  of  worldly  aggrandizement 
by  the  popular  voice.  The  only  security  they  have 
that  they  will  retain  that  enviable  eminence,  is  in 
the  stability  of  public  opinion  !  And  yet  the  autum- 
nal winds  that  career  along  the  shores  of  the  ocean 
23 


266  THE  PROSPERITY  OF 

are  not  more  variablcj  fickle  and  capricious  than  po- 
pular sentiment  respecting  individuals.  The  very 
man  who  to-day  is  borne  to  the  pinnacle  of  fame 
and  of  fortune,  on  the  loud  hosannahs  of  the  mul- 
titude, to-morrow  may  hear  the  hoarse  and  indignant 
murmurs  of  that  multitude  vented  in  the  exclama- 
tion, "Away  with  him,  crucify  him,  crucify  him." 
And  yet  how  many  are  dependent  on  a  cause 
as  uncertain  and  insecure  as  this  for  all  their  worldly 
prosperity  !  In  what  a  multitude  of  instances  are 
men  dependent,  in  some  way,  on  the  opinions  of 
others  for  their  prosperity  in  the  world.  This  is 
equally  true  of  that  friendship  and  afiection  which 
may  indirectly  constitute  an  important  element  of 
earthly  prosperity.  The  history  of  the  best  portion 
of  society  shows  that  there  is  no  stability  in  unsancti- 
Jied  friendships.  "  Trifles  light  as  air,  a  word,  a  look 
unkindly  taken,"  may  dissolve  the  spell  that  once 
bound  fond  hearts  together,  and  promised  to  be  per- 
manent as  life. 

Another  element  of  this  prosperity  is  the  honesty 
and  trustworthiness  of  our  fellow  men.  Confidence 
in  our  fellow  men,  is  indispensable  to  that  enterprise, 
by  which  we  gain  worldly  prosperity.  This  is  the 
reason  why  in  a  barbarous  state  of  society,  where  no 
man  w^ill  trust  his  fellow,  there  are  no  instances  of 
accumulated  fortunes.  All  those  resources  by  which 
individuals  grow  rich,  are  so  far  under  the  control 
of  others,  that  if  they  were  never  to  be  trusted,  those 
individuals  could  never  take  one  successful  step  in 
the  road  to  wealth.  But  how  often  do  the  fairest 
appearances  of  honesty  and  trustworthiness  deceive  ? 
This  also  is  an  exceedingly  uncertain,  insecure  ele- 


THE  WICKED  INSECURE.  267 

meiit.  How  many  have  been  bereft  in  an  hour  of 
ail  they  possessed,  and  beggared  for  life  by  the  dis- 
honesty and  villany  of  those  in  whom  they  confided  ! 
Another,  and  the  chief  element  of  the  worldly  prospe- 
rity of  the  wicked,  is  riches.  And  we  know  what 
striking  epithets  Divine  revelation  applies  to  these  to 
indicate  their  nature,— '^ deceitful  uncertain  riches.^' 
The  word  of  God  and  the  history  of  the  mutations 
of  human  fortune,  alike  testify  that  '•  riches  take  to 
themselves  wings  and  fly  away."  We  have  but  to 
look  at  the  amazing  reverses — the  blighted  hopes  and 
prospects,  and  the  multiplied  wrecks  of  estates, 
amongst  the  mercantile  and  manufacturing  commu- 
nity for  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years,  to  convince  us, 
that  nothing  can  be  more  uncertain  than  the  trea- 
sure laid  up  on  earth.  This  lesson  has  been  trodden 
in  upon  the  mind  by  the  feet  of  time,  and  illustrated 
and  exemplified  by  the  ever  shifting  fortunes  of  the 
world !  Contemplate  all  the  elements  which  form 
the  prosperity  of  the  ungodly,  and  you  will  find 
that  in  their  very  nature,  they  forbid  the  rational 
hope  of  permanency.  They  are  essentially  tempo- 
rary and  uncertain  in  their  character,  and  leave  the 
prosperity  which  they  constitute,  "  baseless  as  the 
school-boy's  dream."  When  looking  at  these  ele- 
ments as  the  only  foundation  of  the  prosperity  of  the 
wicked,  we  feel  the  solemn  emphasis  and  pertinency 
of  the  exclamation,  "  Surely  Thou  didst  set  them  in 
slippery  places." 

III.  The  insecurity  of  the  prosperity  of  the 
wicked  appears,  thirdly,  from  the  fact  that  the 
very  habits  to  which  that  prosperity  gives  rise, 
may  acquire  such  strength  as  to  destroy  it.     Take 


208  THE  PROSPERITY  OF 

as  an  Illustration  of  this,  the  man  whose  pros- 
perity consists  in  the  results  of  a  successful  ambition. 
The  love  of  conquest,  power,  and  influence,  has  been 
growing  into  a  fixed  habit,  and  gaining  fresh  acces- 
sions of  strength  at  every  step  in  his  ambitious  ca- 
reer! While  this  habit  was  confined  within  given 
limits,  success  attended  all  his  efforts.  But  the  in- 
toxication of  success  ministered  new  stimulus  to  his 
ambition,  and  the  habit  at  length  acquired  a  gigantic 
might,  that,  overleaping  the  boundaries  of  reason, 
and  of  probability,  drove  him  upon  those  mad  aspi- 
rings which  proved  his  utter  ruin.  The  history  of 
the  world  is  full  of  melancholy  examples  of  this  de- 
scription. Napoleon  Bonaparte  is  an  illustrious  in- 
stance of  the  power  of  that  habit  of  overgrown,  law- 
less ambition,  which  in  one  luckless  hour  can  ruin 
the  splendid  fortunes  of  an  empire.  This  is  the  man, 
of  whom  it  might  emphatically  be  said — "  I  have 
seen  the  wicked  in  great  power,  and  spreading  him- 
self like  a  green  bay  tree,  yet  he  passed  away,  and  lo  ! 
he  was  not;  yea,  I  sought  him,  but  he  could  not  be 
found."  This  man,  who  once  shook  every  throne  of 
Europe,  and  held  its  nations  in  awe  of  his  influence, 
was  impelled  by  the  might  and  the  agony  of  his  am- 
bitious habit,  to  that  fatal  step  which  turned  the  whole 
tide  of  his  fortunes,  and  drifted  him  to  a  solitary  isle 
in  the  ocean,  to  die  an  execrated  exile  there !  The 
terribly  illustrious  destruction  of  his  splendid  pros- 
perity, was  wrought  out  by  the  power  of  the  very 
habit  which  that  prosperity  cherished.  This  is 
equally  true  of  the  habit  of  acquiring  wealth.  A 
moderate  desire  to  obtain  the  good  things  of  this  life, 
is  the  great  spring  to  healthful  activity  and  enterprise. 


THE  WICKED  INSECURE.  269 

While  this  desire  is  kept  within  legitimate  bounds, 
men  generally  do  what  is  termed  a  "safe  and  prospe- 
rous business."  But  when  it  becomes  the  love  of 
money — a  passion  for  gain — and  success  for  a  season 
forms  the  habit  of  accumulating,  that  habit  soon  ac- 
quires an  indomitable  energy,  and  under  its  violent 
impulses  the  man,  no  longer  content  with  the  slow, 
though  certain  gains  of  ordinary  industry,  embarks 
and  loses  his  all  in  some  splendid  speculation,  that 
promised  an  immediate  and  overgrown  fortune! 
How  many  ruined  estates  within  the  last  thirteen 
3'ears,  confirm  the  truth  of  this  position,  and  show 
how  the  very  habit  of  accumulating  riches,  can  ac- 
quire a  might  that,  Samson-like,  in  its  blind  rage, 
can  seize  upon  the  pillars  of  its  possessor's  prosperity, 
and  bury  the  whole  edifice  in  hopeless  ruin.  Again  : 
how  soon  do  the  habits  of  extravagance  and  prodi- 
gality cherished  by  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked,  de- 
stroy that  prosperity  1  How  many  large  estates  have 
been  utterly  squandered  in  a  few  years,  and  their  heri- 
tors reduced  to  the  worst  condition  of  pauperism,  by 
the  strength  which  those  habits  of  prodigality,  produced 
and  cherished  by  prosperity,  soon  acquired.  This 
prosperity,  then,  contains  in  itself  the  very  elements 
of  its  own  speedy  destruction.  But  there  is  another 
habit,  the  very  opposite  of  this,  growing  out  of,  and 
strengthened  by  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked,  equally 
destructive  of  all  the  enjoyments  of  that  prosperity — 
that  is,  avarice.  When  the  habit  of  accumulating  ac- 
quires such  strength  that  riches  become  an  object  of 
intense  desire  for  their  oicn  sake,  and  not  for  the  sake 
of  the  enjoyments  they  may  procure,  then  there  is 
an  end  to  all  significancy  in  that  man's  outward  pros- 
23* 


270  THE  PROSPERITY  OF 

perit3^  He  becomes  the  victim  of  one  of  the  most 
restless  and  tormenting  passions  of  fallen  human  na- 
ture. His  days  are  consumed  with  'corroding  cares 
and  distracting  solicitude — his  nights  with  anxious 
vigils  and  harassing  fears  over  his  heaps  of  gold. 
His  soul  is  contracted  within  that  narrow  barren  cir- 
cle of  parsimony,  which  denies  him  all  the  ordinary 
comforts  of  life.  His  very  sickness  is  unpalliated  by 
those  things  necessary  to  its  mitigation,  lest  the  pur- 
chase of  them  should  diminish  aught  of  his  hoarded 
treasures.  He  lives  on  in  the  self-denial,  privation 
and  drudgery  of  a  slave,  and  pursues  a  course  of  the 
most  unwearied  and  joyless  industry  witnessed  under 
heaven  !  Now  is  it  not  obvious,  that  the  fearful 
energy  of  this  avaricious  habit,  nourished  by  his  pros- 
perity, can  blast  all  his  treasures,  and  render  him  a 
wretched  starveling  in  the  midst  of  princely  abun- 
dance? Contemplate  then,  my  hearers,  the  habits  to 
which  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  gives  rise,  and 
their  rapidly  increasing  strength,  which  arms  them 
with  the  certain  power  to  destroy  the  very  prosperity 
that  cherishes  them,  and  decide  whether  God  has  not 
"  set "  sinners  "  in  slippery  places  !"  Their  very  ef- 
forts to  climb  higher,  hurl  them  down  headlong  in 
hopeless  ruin! 

IV.  That  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  is  insecure, 
may  be  argued  from  the  fact  that  their  own  con- 
sciences are  not  thoroughly  reconciled  to  their  pro s- 
2)erity  ^and  the  pangs  and  forebodings  of  conscience 
can  soon  imhitter  and  destroy  the  very  essence  of 
worldly  fortune.  However  men  may  persuade  them- 
selves that  temporal  favours  are  the  tokens  of  God's 
smiles  and  approbation, thispersuasioncannotlast.  God 


THE  WICKED  INSECURE.  271 

lias  so  constituted  the  conscience,  that  it  cannot  be 
permanently  bribed  with  gold.   In  thesunniest  hourof 
prosperity  to  the  wicked,  this  power  of  man's  moral 
nature  can  bring  clouds  and  darkness  over  the  soul. 
The  prosperous  wicked,  as  well  as  other  men,  have 
their  moments  when  conscience  speaks.     They  have 
their  periods  of  fearful  misgivings  of  heart.     They 
feel  that  all  is  not  right.     They  know,  in  some  in- 
stances, that  their  gain  has  been  ill-gotten,  and  that 
the  blessing  of  that  God,  who  commands  men  to  be  ho- 
nest, and  who  loveth  righteousness,  cannot  rest  upon 
their  possessions.     Conscience   tells   them    that  far 
above  their  eminence  and   the  splendours  of  their 
worldly  prosperity,  are  the  dark  frowns  of  a  just  Jeho- 
vah,— that  they  have  abused  the  rich  blessings  of  his 
benignant  providence,  and  incurred  his  righteous  dis- 
pleasure— that  all  their  treasures  cannot  bribe  him 
to  swerve  from  the  eternal  principles  of  rectitude, 
and  to  withhold  from  their  disobedience  and  trans- 
gression a  "just  recompense  of  reward."     They  feel 
that  theirs  is  7iot  the  prosperity,  the  safe,  stable  pros- 
perity of  the   righteous.      Conscience   warns   them 
that  this  worldly  prosperity  may  be  their  only  por- 
tion— all  that  they  will  ever  receive  from  the  munifi- 
cence of  a  benevolent  and  merciful  God!  and  that 
hereafter,  in  a  ruined  eternity,  when  their  immortal 
agony  shall  wring  from  them  a  prayer  for  a  drop  of 
water  to  cool  their  parched  tongues,  it  may  be  said 
to  each  one  of  them,  '^Son,  remember  that  thou  in 
thy  life-time  receivedst  thy  good  things."     All  the 
glare  of  present  prosperity  cannot  blind  the  eye  of 
conscience  to  these  images  of  terror  that  rise  in  the 
future.     It  will  occasionally  take  the  alarm,  and  when 


272  THE  PROSPERITY  OF 

once  its  fears  and  forebodings  are  excited,  all  their 
treasures  cannot  quell  them  and  restore  quiet  to  the 
mind.     How  soon  the  pangs  of  conscience  under  a 
sense  of  present  guilt  for  abused  blessings  and  its  ter- 
rors and  apprehensions  of  the  future,  can  effectually 
annihilate  every  joy    that  worldly   prosperity    can 
afford  to  the  soul!      How  many  have  been  rendered 
so  miserable  by  the  stings  of  conscience,  that  the 
glitter  of  their  outward  circumstances  only  served  as 
a  tantalizing  contrast  to  the  gloom  within!     What 
this  side  a  world  of  wo  can  furnish  such  a  picture  of 
superlative  wretchedness  as  the  man  loaded  with  the 
bounties  of  heaven,  and  having  more  than  heart  could 
wish,  and  yet  his  conscience  festering  under  the  con- 
viction that  God's  approbation  is  not  in  all  this — 
overwhelmed  with  the  sense  of  guilt  for  having  abused 
and  perverted  this  exuberance  of  Divine  goodness,  and 
quaking  under  the  apprehension  that  his  very  pros- 
perity will  render  his  ultimate  perdition  more  illus- 
triously dreadful!     Now  when  we  think  how  much 
there  is  in  the  administration   of  God — how  much 
there  is  in  his  holy  oracles,  and  how  many  incidents 
constantly  occurring,  adapted   to  arouse   conscience 
and  bring  it  into'agonizing  play,  and  then  think  how 
completely  its  anguish  and  forebodings  can  destroy 
the  power  of  temporal  prosperity  to  minister  its  ac- 
customed gratifications  and  annihilate  all  capacity  to 
receive  comfort  from  this  source,  and  drive  its  mad- 
dened victim  to  desperation  and  suicide,  we  cannot 
fail  to  feel  how  insecure  and  uncertain  that  prosperity 
is  !     ^'Surely  thou  didst  set  them  in  slippery  places," 
for  they  carry  with  them  a  power  inwoven  with 
their  nature,  that  can  cause  their  feet  to  slide,  and  cast 


THE  WICKED  INSECURE.  273 

Ihem  down  in   mental  depression  from  the  loftiest 
pinnacle  of  earthly  fortune. 

V.  and  Lastly.  The  known  uncertainty  of  life 
haunts  the  wicked  with  a  dread  that  destroys  the  baseless 
joys  of  their  prosperity.  Wealth  has  no  power  to  re- 
deem its  possessor  from  death  and  the  grave — and 
the  wicked  themselves  know  and  feel  this  !  Their 
ample  treasures  and  their  strong  palaces  repel  not 
the  approach  of  the  Great  Destroyer.  The  un- 
certainty of  life  is  just  as  great  amidst  all  these,  as 
amidst  the  stinted  provisions,  and  miserable  hovels 
of  the  poor.  With  impartial  tread  death  comes  to 
the  threshold,  and  knocks  alike,  at  the  door  of  the 
palace  and  the  cottage.  The  prosperous  wicked,  see 
death's  doings  among  themselves,  and  it  is  striking  to 
notice  what  a  deep  temporary  emotion,  the  death  of 
one  of  their  number  occasions  in  survivers.  They 
know  that  he  is  torn  from  all  that  ever  ministered 
to  his  enjoyment,  exiled  from  all  his  earthly  posses- 
sions, a  homeless,  shelterless  wanderer  in  a  future 
world.  Images  of  desolation  are  associated  with 
his  departure  from  earth,  overwhelming  to  their  ima- 
ginations. They  feel  for  a  moment  the  force  of  God's 
declarations  respecting  such  a  one;  "For  we  brought 
nothing  into  this  world,  and  it  is  certain  we  can  carry 
nothing  out."  '^  When  he  dieth,  he  shall  carry 
nothing  away — his  glory  shall  not  descend  after 
him."  "As  he  came  forth  of  his  mother's  womb, 
naked  shall  he  return,  to  go  as  he  came,  and  shall 
take  nothing  of  his  labour  which  he  may  carry  away  in 
his  hand;  and  this  also  is  a  sore  evil  that  in  all  points 
as  he  came  so  shall  he  go,  and  what  profit  hath  he 
that  hath   laboured  for   the  wind?'^     The  wicked 


274  THE  PROSPERITY  OF 

know  that  the  thread  of  life  is  all  that  binds  them  to 
their  coveted,  idolized  worldly  prosperity — that  that 
thread  once  severed,  they  are  as  completely  sepa- 
rated from  all  the  enjoyments  which  wealth  can 
procure,  as  though  they  had  never  had  a  connexion 
with  earth  !  Now  with  the  multitude  of  things 
around  them  to  snap  that  brittle  thread,  and  the  nu- 
merous illustrations  of  the  utter  uncertainty  of  life 
which  the  history  of  every  day  furnishes,  how  can 
the  wdcked,  when  they  cling  to  existence  with  so 
fond  a  tenacity,  avoid  that  dread  of  being  torn  from 
their  possessions  which  will  mar  and  destroy  their 
prosperity  ?  As  they  look  at  the  dire  uncertainty 
of  life,  they  know  that  God  has  set  them  in  slippery 
places.  And  as  they  think  of  the  awful  privation 
of  being  driven  away  from  their  earthly  treasures, 
the  overwhelming  dread  of  this  destroys  all  taste  and 
capacity  to  relish  the  sensual  joys  which  their  ample 
resources  furnish.  They  are  "all  their  life-time 
subject  to  bondage,  through  fear,"  till  at  last  that 
which  they  '^feared  comes  upon  them,"  and  plunges 
them  deep  in  endless  misery  !  There  they  learn  the 
awful  truth  of  that  Divine  saying, '*  The  pi^osperily 
of  fools  shall  destroy  them."  What  a  hollow,  de- 
ceptive, dangerous,  prosperity  this,  which  an  hour's 
operation  of  conscience,  or  of  sober  reflection,  on  the 
insecurity  of  life,  can  utterly  destroy;  or  if  enjoyed 
undisturbed  by  these  till  the  last,  will  only  bring 
down  upon  the  soul  a  more  aggravated  perdition! 

If  such  be  the  nature  of  the  prosperity  of  the 
wicked,  i^  this  is  their  portion — then  we  see  from  this 
subject,  in  the  first  place,  how  criminal  it  is  for  the 
Christian  to  be  envious  of  it,  and  murmur  at  his  own 


THE  WICKED  INSECURE.  275 

temporal  allotment.  Why  should  a  soul  enlightened 
from  above,  blest  with  the  presence  of  God  and  the 
hope  of  heaven,  covet  the  prosperity  of  God's  ene- 
mies? Would  you  have  God  give  you  your  desire, 
but  send  leanness  into  your  soul?  Would  you  have 
him  set  you  in  slippery  places  rather  than  plant  your 
feet  on  the  eternal  Rock,  and  establish  your  goings? 
Would  you  deliberately  take  the  perishable  riches  of 
earth  in  preference  to  the  infinite  resources  of  Di- 
vine mercy  and  grace?  Would  you  exchange  the 
present  peace  and  protection  of  God,  for  the  corro- 
ding cares  and  powerful  temptations  of  worldly  abun- 
dance? Would  you  exchange  "a  house  not  made 
with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens,'^  for  the  palace 
which  worldly  wealth  could  purchase  for  you? 
Would  you  risk  the  fearful  final  plunge  in  the  deeps 
of  perdition,  for  the  pleasure  of  standing  a  few  mo- 
ments on  the  slippery  elevation  of  earthly  aggran- 
dizement? If  not,  then  Christian,  cease  to  covet  the 
prosperity  of  the  wicked,  or  to  murmur  at  the  pains 
and  ills  of  your  present  allotment.  Your  poverty 
and  privations — your  "light  afflictions  which  are  but 
for  a  moment,  shall  work  out  for  you  a  far  more  ex- 
ceeding and  eternal  weight  of  glory,"  whilst  "the 
prosperity  of  fools  shall  destroy  them."  Be  it 
enough  for  you  that  God  is  your  portion,  "for  their 
rock  is  not  as  our  rock,  our  enemies  themselves  being 
judges."  He  is  your  sun  and  your  shield,  "the  Lord 
will  give  you  grace  and  glory:  no  good  thing  will  be 
withhold  from  them  that  walk  uprightly."  The 
smiles  and  the  favour  of  God,  are  better  to  you  than 
the  treasures  of  empires  without  them.  The  poverty 
and  sorrows  of  this  life^  cannot  affect  your  title  as  an 


276  THE  PROSPERITY  OF 

heir  of  God,  and  a  joint  heir  with  Jesus  Christ,  "  to  an 
inheritance  incorruptible,  undefiled,  that  fadeth  not 
away,  eternal  in  the  heavens."  Let  submission,  faith, 
and  hope  triumph  over  all  present  troubles,  whilst  you 
anticipate  the  rest,  the  riches  and  the  joys  of  a  blessed 
immortality! 

Finally. — My  dear  impenitent  hearers,  if  the 
prosperity  which  you  so  eagerly  covet,  and  for 
whose  attainment  you  sacrifice  the  eternal  interests 
of  the  soul,  be  so  unsatisfactory  and  insecure,  then 
will  you  not  be  persuaded  to  seek  a  better  and  more 
enduring  portion?  In  the  light  of  this  subject,  how 
melancholy  is  your  condition!  The  most  that 
earth  can  do  for  you,  is,  to  set  you  on  slippery 
places,  where  your  feet  will  certainly  slide  in  due 
time!  When  you  have  actually  reached  the  highest 
pinnacle  to  which  your  worldly  aspirations  can 
carry  you,  you  have  no  security  that  you  can  stand 
there  a  moment!  Your  very  success  may  prove 
vour  ruin!  At  best,  your  elevation  is  only  to  add 
a  more  tragic  disaster  to  your  ultimate  and  certain 
fall!  Your  abundance,  if  you  make  it  your  god, 
and  die  sacrificing  at  its  shrine,  will  only  be  the 
means  of  forming  an  agonizing  contrast  to  the  pe- 
nury and  the  pangs  of  an  eternal  poverty  in  the 
world  to  come!  My  dear  ungodly  hearers,  God 
ofiers  you  a  better,  a  more  secure  position  in  his 
empire — an  ampler  and  more  satisfying  portion  to 
your  souls.  He  offers  to  take  you  off  the  slippery 
places  where  you  now  stand,  and  fix  you  immovea- 
bly  on  that  "  chief  corner  Stone,  elect  and  precious," 
which  he  has  laid  in  Zion.  He  offers  you  pardon 
and  peace,  righteousness  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost 


THE  WICKED  INSECURE.  277 

now.  He  offers  you  his  favour  and  protection  through 
life — the  rich  treasures  of  his  grace  and  mercy  to 
meet  your  every  want  while  on  earth,  and  the  richer 
glories  of  an  eternal  heaven  after  death.  He  offers 
his  Son  as  an  all-perfect  Saviour,  and  all  the  ample, 
inexhaustible  resources  of  that  eternal  life  which  is 
in  Him.  He  offers  you  Himself,  in  all  the  plenitude 
of  the  God-head,  as  your  "  exceeding  great  reward!!" 
0!  dying  sinner,  will  you  reject  these  kind  offers, 
and  madly  prefer  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season? 
Will  you  take  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked,  and 
spurn  the  promises  of  your  God  and  the  hopes  of 
your  eternity?  Will  you  be  guilty  of  a  folly  and 
madness  infinite  as  this!!  0  by  all  the  guilt  of  con- 
tinuing to  abuse  your  prosperity — by  all  that  is  un- 
certain and  unsatisfying  in  that  prosperity — by  the 
weight  which  it  will  hang  upon  the  soul  to  drown  it 
in  perdition,  and  by  all  the  invitations  and  promises 
of  God,  and  all  the  proffers  of  mercy  and  salvation — 
of  Christ  and  heaven,  now  urged  upon  you,  I  beseech, 
1  conjure  you,  0  my  impenitent  hearers,  to  repent 
and  believe  the  gospel,  take  God  as  the  heritage  of 
your  souls,  and  heaven  as  their  eternal  home. 


278  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 


SERMON    XIV. 


THINGS  IN  THE  DEALINGS  OF  GOD  THAT  WE  KNOW 
NOT  NOW,  AND  THE  REASONS  ON  WHICH  WE 
FOUND  THE  HOPE  THAT  WE  SHALL  KNOW  THEM 
HEREAFTER. 

*'  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now;  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter." 
John  xiii.  7. 

It  were  not  to  be  expected  that  man,  in  the  present 
infancy  of  his  being,  should  know  all  the  reasons  of 
God's  dealings  with  him  as  a  moral  and  accountable 
creature.  Earthly  parents,  in  disciplining  their  chil- 
dren, pursue  a  course  whose  bearing  on  the  future  cha- 
racter and  destiny  of  the  child  it  does  not  at  present 
see.  This  results  from  three  things, — first,  the 
child's  limited  capacities  and  knowledge,  second,  tlie 
parent's  greater  capacities,  intelligence  and  experi- 
ence, and  thirdly,  the  fact,  that  the  parent  is  not  go- 
verned in  the  measures  he  adopts  by  a  reference  to  the 
child's  present  gratification,  but  to  its  future  and 
ultimate  good.  Many  things  in  the  dealings  of  God 
with  man  must,  at  present,  appear  mysterious  and 
inexplicable;  for  man,  viewed  as  an  immortal  be- 
ing, is  in  his  mere  childhood  in  this  world,  infan- 
tile in  all  his  powers  and  capacities.  God's  dealings 
with  him  do  not  refer  altogether  to  his  present  grati- 


1 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  279 

fication.  God's  scheme  of  moral  discipline  is  eternal. 
By  consequence,  then,  it  embraces  many  things  that 
are  prospective,  that  refer  to  man's  irnniortal  in- 
terests and  destiny.  Now  to  creatures  not  only 
limited  in  their  powers,  as  we  are,  but  darkened  by 
sin,  and  confined  mainly  to  objects  of  sense,  there 
must  necessarily  be  much  in  God's  great,  eternal 
scheme  incomprehensible  by  us  at  present.  The 
simple,  yet  expressive  act  of  the  Saviour,  in  washing 
the  disciples'  feet,  was  not  perfectly  understood  by 
them.  It  was  intended  to  teach  them  a  lesson  of 
humility,  all  of  which  they  could  not  then  learn. 
Peter  understood  so  little  of  the  nature  and  bearing 
of  that  condescending  act  of  his  Master,  that  he  re- 
fused to  have  it  performed  to  him ;  yet  he  afterwards 
saw  and  knew  the  necessity  of  just  such  a  humility 
as  that  impressive  act  of  Christ  taught.  It  was  lite- 
rally true,  that  though  he  knew  not  the  whole  meaning 
of  what  the  Saviour  did  then,  yet  he  did  know  after- 
wards, and  felt  a  gracious  approbation  of  what  the 
Saviour  had  thus  done.  "  Thou  shalt  know  here- 
after." We  think  this  phrase  involves  the  implica- 
tion, that  the  benevolent  teachings  of  Christ  will  be 
continued,  not  only  through  this  life,  but  for  ever. 
He  will  remain  the  Great  Prophet  through  eternit}^, 
explaining,  illustrating,  and  justifying  the  ways 
of  God  to  man.  We  have  the  prospect  of  an  inter- 
minable career  of  knowledge,  a  profound  acquaintance 
with  that,  to  us,  most  interesting  of  all  departments, 
the  knowledge  of  all  the  great,  and  at  present,  mys- 
terious acts  in  God's  scheme  of  moral  discipline  over 
man.     It  is  true  in  more  senses  than  that  particularly 


280  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 

referred  to  in  the  text,  that  what  God  does  we  know 
not  now,  but  we  shall  know  hereafter. 

I  shall  endeavour  in  the  j^r^^  place,  to  enumerate 
some  things  in  the  dealings  of  God  that  we  know  not 
now,  and  secondly,  I  shall  present  the  reasons  on 
which  we  found  the  expectation  that  we  shall 
know  them  hereafter. 

It  needs  hardly  be  observed  here,  that  [he  introduc- 
tion of  moral  evil  into  a  universe  of  intelligences  ori- 
ginally created  pure  is,  perhaps,  the  most  profound, 
as  it  is,  to  us,  the  most  sublimely  mournful  mystery 
in  the  administration  of  Jehovah!  Why  He  should 
have  perm.itted  it  to  exist  at  all,  or  if  existing,  to 
prolong  the  deadly  hostility  of  its  power,  till  it  should 
involve,  to  the  extent  it  has  done,  the  immortal  in- 
terests and  destinies  of  so  vast  a  multitude  of  moral 
agents  is,  at  present,  a  fact  as  appalling  as  it  is  inex- 
plicable. But  we  may  not  dwell  on  so  fearful  a 
theme.  I  shall,  therefore,  proceed  to  enumerate 
some  of  the  more  obvious  dealings  of  God  with  man, 
the  reasons  of  which  we  know  not  now. 

I.  One  of  the  things  which  we  know  not  now  is, 
why  there  should  be  so  unequal  a  distribution  of 
good  and  evil  in  the  present  life. 

The  bounds  of  every  man's  habitation  are  fixed  by 
the  Lord.  It  is  not  meant  by  this,  to  affirm  that 
men  have  not  an  agency  in  modifying  their  earthly 
allotments.  Prudence,  persevering  industry,  and 
economy,  as  a  general  rule,  are  followed  in  the  pro- 
vidence of  God  by  a  corresponding  prosperity.  So 
recklessness,  habitual  indolence,  and  prodigality  are, 
as  a  general  rule,  connected  with  a  corresponding  po- 
verty and  wretchedness.     But,  irrespective  of  man's 


1 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  281 

agency  or  will  in  the  matter,  there  is  a  great  ine- 
quality in  the  lot  of  individuals  as  respects  comnnon, 
temporal  blessings.  The  most  unlikely,  and,  to  all 
appearance,  the  most  undeserving,  are  often  crowned 
with  the  richest  blessings  of  a  bountiful  Providence. 
In  respect  to  the  ivicked,  it  is  as  true  now  as  in  the 
days  of  the  Psalmist,  that  *'  their  eyes  stand  out  with 
fatness;  they  have  more  than  heart  could  wish." 
An  unclouded  sun  pours  its  light  on  their  path-way. 
Their  cup  of  temporal  good  overflows.  "They  are 
not  in  trouble  as  other  men,  neither  are  they  plagued 
like  other  men.''  And  this,  their  bright  and  happy 
allotment,  is  the  direct  result  of  God's  sovereign  pro- 
vidence over  them.  On  the  contrary,  we  find  others  ob- 
viously more  deserving,  who  are  denied  these  temporal 
blessings.  Like  the  Psalmist,  '•  all  the  day  long  have 
they  been  plagued,  and  chastened  every  morning." 
The  means  of  a  mere  subsistence  is  scantily  afforded 
to  them.  In  the  cup  of  their  poverty,  affliction  often 
mingles  itsbitter  drops.  Wound  after  wound  is  made 
in  their  bleeding  hearts.  Time,  as  it  flies,  casts  on 
them  a  mournful  shadow^  from  its  wings,  and  leaves 
clouds  and  darkness  on  its  way.  Earth,  the  cheerful 
and  sunny'home  of  others,  seems  to  them  as  a  strange 
land  overhung  with  the  shadows  of  death.  There  is 
not  a  track  or  lane  of  life,  but  is  strewed  with  the 
wreck  of  their  early  hopes  and  perished  joys.  The 
heart's  most  hallowed  affections  have  been  blighted, 
and  disappointment  has  left  its  tantalizing  blank  on 
all  the  bright  anticipations  which  that  heart  once 
cherished.  The  past  furnishes  only  sorrowful  re- 
membrances, the  present  numerous  felt  ills,  and  the 
future  sad  forebodings.  "Waters  of  a  full  cup  are 
24-^ 


282  DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE 

wrung  out  to  them,"  and  in  tears  and  toil  and  rack- 
ing care  they  tread  their  weary  way  to  the  grave 
and  eternity.  And  this,  their  dark  and  sorrowful  al- 
lotmentjis  the  direct  orderings  of  the  sovereign  provi- 
dence of  God.  Who  can  at  present  know  why  a 
just  and  benevolent  God  should  distribute  these  tem- 
poral blessings  with  a  hand  so  seemingly  ^j«r//«/ 
and  unequal? 

What  He  does,  therefore,  in  this  respect,  we  know 
not  now. 

II.    The  discriminations  of  converting  grace  in 
the  case  of  individuals,  is  another  thing  ivhich 
toe  know  not  the  reasons  of  now.     In  the  selection 
of  the  subjects  of  converting  grace,  God^s  thoughts 
are  not  as  our  thoughts,  nor  His  ways  as  our  ways. 
"  One    is    taken    and    another  left,"    on  principles 
which  we  know  not  now.     Those  who  have  been 
reared  in  pious  families,  who  have   been  instructed 
and  trained  in  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  religion, 
who  are  amiable  and  moral,  and  to  human  view  "  not 
far  from  the  kingdom  of  God,"  are  sometimes  passed 
over  in  the  sovereign  discriminations  of  converting 
grace.     They  withstand  all  the  prayers,  entreaties, 
warnings,  reproofs,  tears  and  throbbing  anxieties  of 
parents  and   pious  friends;  they  "resist  the   Holy 
Ghost,"  and  the  influence  of  all  those  ordinary  means 
which  that  divine  Agent  uses  for  the  sinner's  con- 
version;  the  Sabbath,  the  Bible,  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  and  the  pastoral  office.     On  the  other  hand, 
those  whose  religious  education  has  been  wholly  ne- 
glected, who    have    been    brought  up  in    ungodly, 
prayerless   families,   who  are   openly  immoral  and 
profligate  in  their  lives,  who  have  never  been  trained 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  283 

even  to  pay  an  external  respect  to  the  ordinances 
of  religion,  are  sometimes  made  the  subjects  of 
renewing  and  saving  grace,  whilst  the  others,  whom 
we  would  regard  as  so  much  more  hopeful  and  pro- 
mising, remain  the  unchanged  "children  of  wrath  by 
nature."  This,  I  admit,  is  not  the  general  rule. 
^^  God  is  not  unrighteous  to  forget  the  work  and  la- 
bour of  love  "  of  pious  parents  in  training  their 
children  for  him.  It  is  of  such  children,  that  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth  is  mainly  composed. 
Nor  is  the  fact  now  under  consideration,  any  encou- 
ragement to  the  reckless  and  the  profligate,  as  though 
their  very  wickedness  rendered  it  more  likely  that 
they  would  be  converted  than  those  who  have  been 
piously  trained,  and  are  correct  in  their  external  de- 
portment. Still  it  is  a  fact  in  the  administration  of 
God's  grace,  that  sometimes  individuals  of  the  former 
class,  though  most  unpromising,  are  taken,  and  some 
of  the  latter,  with  all  their  advantages,  are  left  in 
their  own  voluntary  rejection  of  the  counsel  of  God 
against  their  own  souls.  And  what  God  does  in 
this  respect,  we  know  not  now. 

This  is  equally  true  in  regard  to  the  classes  of  so- 
ciety from  which  the  great  majority  of  converts  are 
taken.  As  God  effects  His  purposes  of  mercy  in  this 
world  chiefly  by  human  instrumentality,  it  would 
seem  reasonable  to  expect  that  in  establishing  and  pro- 
pagating religion.  He  would  select  for  this  great  work 
the  talented,  the  learned,  the  mighty  and  noble  of  the 
earth.  But  God  has  hitherto  adopted  the  very  op- 
posite course,  so  that  Paul  calls  the  attention  of  the 
Corinthians  to  this,  as  a  striking  feature  in  the  dis- 
criminations   of    converting    grace.     "For   ye   see 


284  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 

your  calling,  brethren,  how  that  not  mdiny  wise  men 
after  the  fle:5h,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble, 
are  called.'^  No  mind  knows  now  why  God,  in  or- 
ganizing and  perpetuating  His  church  in  our  world, 
should  have  excluded  from  it  to  the  extent  that  He 
has  done,  the  gigantic  intellects  and  the  susceptible 
hearts,  the  wealth  and  station,  and  unbounded  influ- 
ence of  those  that  have  figured  as  conspicuous  cha- 
racters in  the  great  drama  of  earth.  God's  con- 
verting grace  and  resistless  power,  could  have  conse- 
crated all  these  to  His  service,  and  made  them  con- 
tribute to  the  advancement  of  His  cause.  He  could 
have  directed  the  ambition  of  Bonaparle  into  the 
field  of  pure  and  Christ-like  benevolence,  and  sus- 
tained him  in  a  course  of  well-doing,  where  he 
would  have  made  conquests  more  splendid  than  ever 
graced  his  military  prowess,  and  reared  monuments 
that  would  have  stood  amidst  the  convulsions  of  the 
last  day,  and  gained  a  crown  of  glory  unfading  and 
immortal.  God  could  have  baptized  the  mighty 
genius  of  Bi/ro?i,  and  made  his  capacious  soul  poui 
forth  the  numbers  of  a  sacred  poetry  that  would 
have  roused  Christendom  to  elevated  and  dilating 
emotions  of  piety,  and  that  would  have  won,  for  that 
titled  bard,  laurels  which  the  fires  of  the  final  confla- 
gration could  not  blast.  But  God,  in  His  sovereignty, 
passed  such  characters  by,  and  hath  chosen  the  poor 
of  this  world,  and  made  i/ie7n  rich  in  faith  and  good 
works.  The  great  majority  of  those  who  have  had 
a  name  and  a  place  in  His  church,  have  been  selected 
from  the  ordinary  and  unobserved  walks  of  humble 
life.  God  has  thus  set  aside  the  conceited  calcula- 
tions of  worldly  wisdom,  humbled  the  pride  of  man. 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  285 

and  carried  out  His  designs  of  mercy  to  the  souls  of 
individuals,  and  promoted  the  interests  of  His  church 
on  principles  directly  the  reverse  of  those  which 
human  prudence  and  forecast  would  have  adopted. 
What  He  has  done  in  this  respect,  we  know  not 
now. 


III.  A  third   thins;  which  we  know  not  now 


& 


is 


ivhi/  the  righteous  should  be  so  afflicted  in  the 
present  life.  I  do  not  here  refer  to  the  unequal  dis- 
tribution of  temporal  blessings,  which  happens  to  all 
indiscriminately.  The  unrighteous,  as  well  as  the 
pious,  are  the  subjects  of  these  ills.  I  allude  more 
particularly  to  the  kind  and  duration  of  the  afflic- 
tions of  the  righteous.  It  is  certainly  amongst  the 
present  mysteries  of  God's  dealings  with  man,  that 
the  afflictions  of  His  own  people  should  be  of  the 
kind,  and  should  be  often  so  long  continued  as  they 
are.  We  sometimes  see  pious  parents,  remarkable 
for  their  parental  affection  and  solicitude  for  the  sal- 
vation of  their  children,  long  and  sorely  tried  in  this 
particular.  Through  years  they  have  prayed  and 
wept  before  God,  and  entreated  Him  to  convert  and 
save  their  children.  But  the  answer  seems  to  be  de- 
layed, till  hope  deferred  has  made  their  hearts  sick. 
Those  children  grow  up  in  impenitence,  some  of 
them  become  openly  profligate,  and  continue  without 
God  in  the  world,  till  the  close  of  one  or  both  of  the 
parent's  lives.  What  revolving  years  of  bitterness 
do  such  parents  spend!  And  what  a  tender  and 
deep  sorrow  fills  their  parting  spirits  even  in  death, 
as  they  remember  that  they  leave  their  children  be- 
hind them  enemies  to  God!  Now  that  those  parents 
who  seem  to  be  most  concerned  for  their  children, 


286  DEVELOPMENT  OF    THE 

most  faithful  to  them,  and  most  prayerfully  solici- 
tous for  their  eternal  welfare,  should  be  thus  tried,  is 
truly  mysterious.  The  reason  of  this,  we  know  not 
now.  There  is  yet  a  more  dreadful  trial  to  a  pious 
parent,  than  to  leave  behind  him  in  a  world  of  mercy 
and  of  hope,  children  that  are  unreconciled  to  God. 
Sometimes  that  parental  heart  whose  natural  affec- 
tions, and  all  whose  sensibilities  have  been  refined 
and  rendered  more  acute  by  sanctifying  grace,  has  to 
feel  the  unutterable  agony  produced  by  beholding  a 
beloved  child  die  without  giving  any  evidence  of  an 
interest  in  Christ.  This,  to  a  truly  pious  mind,  is 
the  most  inconsolable,  overwhelming  of  all  mortal 
sorrov^s.  It  is  almost  the  only  sorrow  this  side  the 
world  of  v\'o,  to  sooth  which,  the  promises  of  God 
have  made  no  direct  provision.  Why  God  should 
ever  thus  afflict  one  of  His  own  people,  we  "  know 
not  now.'' 

Again,  we  sometimes  find  the  warm-hearted 
Christian,  who  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  relish  all 
the  joys  of  hom.e,  to  appreciate  more  than  other 
men  the  reciprocity  of  his  wedded  love,  and  all  the 
endearments  of  the  domestic  relations,  grievously 
crossed  and  tried  in  these  very  particulars.  He  suf- 
fers an  early  and  aggravated  bereavement  of  his 
partner,  or  if  they  both  live,  it  is  only  for  him  to 
witness  the  death,  one  by  one,  of  his  too  sanguine 
hopes,  and  the  blight  of  his  heart,  by  the  acrimony 
that  has  taken  the  place  of  the  law  of  kindness,  and 
to  drink  more  deeply  from  the  bitterness  of  his  do- 
mestic cup,  filled  to  overflowing  by  the  superadded 
ingratitude,  rebellion,  and  disobedience  of  children. 
How  many  homes,  from  causes  like  these,  have  their 
mysteries  of  maddening  misery,  though  to  the  casual 


I 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  287 

observer,  they  may  seem  to  be  all  sunshine  and  bliss. 
But  this  is  a  more  insupportable  affliction,  when  it  is 
a  Christian  wife  and  mother  who  is  thus  tried. 
She  has  so  few  resources  to  mitigate  her  retired  and 
uncomplaining  sorrows,  she  is  so  peculiarly  dependent 
for  her  happiness  on  the  reciprocation  of  her  sympa- 
thies and  domestic  kindnesses,  her  empire  is  so  ex- 
clusively that  of  the  heart,  that  when  household 
wrath,  bitterness,  strife,  and  cold  neglect  blight  its 
best  affections,  her  peace  and  hope  for  earth  are 
WTecked  beyond  redemption.  The  delicate  and  con- 
cealed woes  of  pious  wives,  the  details  of  their  un- 
murmuring grief  and  hidden  wrongs,  and  the  secret 
record  of  their  bruised  spirits,  will  form  an  astounding 
chapter  of  disclosures  at  the  bar  of  God.  Can  any 
one  know  now  why,  in  His  righteous  providence, 
God  should  permit  one  of  His  own  devoted,  defence- 
less female  servants  to  be  placed,  and  held  through 
life,  in  such  circumstances  of  severe  domestic  trial? 

Again,  we  find  some  who  are  most  zealously  and 
perseveringly  engaged  in  well-doing,  whose  charac- 
ter and  influence  tell  on  the  best  interests  of  society, 
whose  time  and  labours  would  seem  to  us  to  be  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  the  church  and  that  com- 
munity with  which  they  are  connected,  afflicted  with 
tedious  and  wasting  sickness,  called  away  from  their 
spheres  of  benevolent  activity,  confined  to  their 
homes,  cut  off' from  physical  comforts,  and  consigned 
to  months,  and  sometimes  to  years  of  grievous  bodily 
pain,  which  is  terminated  at  last  only  by  the  release 
that  death  gives  to  the  sufferings  of  the  righteous. 
Why  such  a  kind,  and  such  a  duration  of  sufferings, 
should  be  necessary  in  the  case  of  those  who  seem  to 


288  DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE 

live  nearest  to  God,  and  to  be  most  devoted  to  His 
glory  and  the  interests  of  His  cause  in  the  world,  we 
know  not  now.  These  are  parts  of  our  moral  disci- 
pline that  seem  mysterious  and  inexplicable  at 
present.  In  this  respect  clouds  and  darkness  are 
round  about  the  Almighty.  "  His  way  is  in  the  sea, 
and  His  path  in  the  great  waters,  and  His  footsteps 
are  not  known."  His  judgments  are  a  great  deep, 
which  mortal  line  at  present  cannot  fathom. 

Lastly.  The  time  and  circumstances  of  the  death 
of  some  of  the  righteous,  is  another  thing  in  the 
dealings  of  God  which  we  know  not  the  reasons  of 
now.  The  providence  of  God  in  the  death  of  his 
saints  is  often  as  dark  and  inexplicable  as  his  deal- 
ings with  them  during  life.  Behold  that  ingenuous, 
lovely  young  man,  who  has  early  consecrated  him- 
self to  God:  his  heart,  under  the  pure  constraining 
love  of  Christ,  is  set  on  entering  the  holy  ministry. 
He  glows  w^ith  zeal  for  God,  and  melts  in  heavenly 
compassion  for  the  souls  of  sinners.  He  commences 
an  education  to  qualify  himself  for  extensive  useful- 
ness. He  enters  with  a  sacred  enthusiasm  on  his 
studies — he  pursues  them  with  an  unwearied  activi- 
ty and  with  a  perseverance  that  knows  no  point  of 
pause  or  cessation.  With  toil,  and  pain,  and  priva- 
tion known  only  to  himself,  he  at  length  completes 
both  his  collegiate  and  theological  course.  What  an 
object  of  interest  is  he  now  to  his  friends  and  to  the 
church — to  earth  and  heaven.  With  "  the  dew  of 
his  youth "  fresh  upon  him,  and  in  the  morning 
vigour  of  his  manhood — w^ith  ardent  hopes  and  lofty 
aspirations — with  talents  of  the  first  order — a  mind 
cultivated    and    enriched   with   the   best   stores   of 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  289 

knowledge  human  and  divine — a  man  of  God  tho- 
roughly furnished  unto  every  good  word  and  work ; 
panting  to  enter  on  the  high  and  noble  duties  of  the 
sacred  office.  What  an  object  of  interest,  of  hope, 
of  promise — what  an  unspeakable  comfort  to  the 
pious  father  and  mother,  who  have  reared  him  amidst 
prayers,  and  tears,  and  tender  anxieties,  and  watched 
him  with  a  yearning  and  consuming  solicitude  till 
the  present  moment.  And  now  he  has  arrived  at 
the  very  point  when  he,  his  parents,  and  the  church 
are  about  to  realize  the  consummation  of  all  their  de- 
vout wishes  respecting  him.  But  lo  !  in  this  very 
moment  of  purest  sunshine,  when  all  creation  seems 
to  smile  and  to  hail  with  ecstasy  the  commencement 
of  that  youthful  career  which  promises  so  much  glory 
to  God  and  good  to  man,  death  seizes  this  illustrious 
victim,  and  confines  him  a  prisoner  in  its  cold  and 
silent  halls  !  His  sun  goes  down  at  noon,  and  parents 
and  friends,  the  church  and  the  world,  bereaved  and 
bleeding  at  heart,  feel  the  disastrous  darkness  that  en- 
sues!!  What  blasting  of  hope,  what  blotting  out  of 
promise,  what  mockery  of  all  human  nature's  noblest 
schemes  and  loftiest  aspirings  are  here  !  And  all  this 
under  the  immediate  control  of  an  infinitely  benevo- 
lent God  !  What  he  does  we  know  not  now.  Such 
cases  of  death  amongst  the  most  hopeful  and  lovely 
of  the  saints  is  not  a  rare  occurrence.  And  what  in- 
volves it  in  so  much  more  perplexity  to  our  view,  is 
to  notice  the  opposite  characters  that  are  often  per- 
mitted to  live  to  an  old  age.  The  worthless  and 
wicked,  whose  lives  seem  a  nuisance,  the  pests  and 
cursesof  families  and  neighbourhoods, the  undefinable 
class  of  hangers-on  to  the  skirts  of  decent  society, 
25 


290  DEVELOPMENT    OF  THE 

fools  and  fops,  the  indolent  and  stupid,  the  drones 
and  dregs  of  the  race,  are  often  allowed  to  fill  up  the 
full  measure  of  man's  allotted  time  on  earth.  Why 
these  things  should,  at  present,  characterize  the  pro- 
vidence of  a  benevolent  God,  we  know  not.  But, 
will  the  veil  which  now  conceals  the  reasons  of  these 
dealings  of  the  Almighty,  never  be  removed  1  Will 
clouds  and  darkness  rest  for  ever  on  his  ways?  No; 
what  he  does  we  know  not  now,  but  we  shall  know 
hereafter. 

This  introduces  the  second  general  topic  sug- 
gested by  the  text,  viz.  The  reasons  on  which  we 
found  the  expectation  that  we  shall  know  these 
things  hereafter. 

I.  All  analogy  shows  that  the  successive  dispen- 
sations of  God  rise  each  above  the  other,  and  give 
brighter  displays  of  his  character  and  dealings, 
and  we  may  therefore  expect  in  a  future  state  to 
know  many  thi?igs  that  we  know  not  now.  The 
dispensation  previous  to  the  fall  of  angels  and  of  man, 
exhibited  only  the  amazing  power,  wisdom,  and  be- 
nevolence of  God  in  creating,  upholding,  and  bless- 
ing, rational  beings.  In  the  apostacy  itself,  the  infi- 
nite justice  or  holiness  of  God  was  brought  to  view,  by 
the  punishment  which  he  inflicted  on  the  fallen.  In 
the  dispensation  over  men  after  the  fall,  the  great  and 
glorious  attribute  of  mercy  was  brought  forward  from 
the  retirements  of  eternity,  and  displayed  to  an  intelli- 
gent creation.  Here  was  a  new  and  fuller  disclosure  of 
the  character  of  God,  than  had  been  witnessed  in  the 
former  dispensation.  Now,thisis  true  ofevery  succes- 
sive dispensation  over  man  in  the  present  world.  In  the 
Jewish  dispensation,  which  succeeded  the  patriarchal, 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  291 

how  much  more  clearly  was  the  character  of  God 
known,  and  how  much  plainer  were  the  great  truths 
of  religion,  the  promises  and  prospects  of  a  Saviour, 
than  in  that  former  patriarchal  dispensation  ?  We, 
ourselves,  can  judge  how  emphatically  true  it  is  that 
''life  and  immortality  are  brought  to  light"  by  the 
gospel  dispensation,  which  succeeded  the  Jewish. 
How  much  more  of  the  character  and  ways  of  God, 
of  his  great  and  merciful  purposes  in  the  scheme  of 
the  gospel,  do  we  know  than  did  the  most  gifted  and 
enlightened  minds  under  the  old  dispensation?  Now 
this  shows  us  that  God  has  so  arranged  all  his  dispen- 
sations over  his  intelligent  creatures,  that  each  rises 
above  the  one  preceding  in  the  clearer  disclosures 
and  fuller  revelations  it  gives  of  his  character  and 
ways.  If  such  be  the  fact,  then,  may  we  not  reason- 
ably expect  that  the  future  state  of  the  righteous, 
which  is  to  succeed  the  present  dispensation,  will  be 
one  of  increased  light  and  augmented  knowledge? 
Will  not  that  dispensation  which  is  yettocome,  follow 
the  analogy  of  all  that  are  past,  and  give  us  clearer 
views  of  the  attributes  and  dealings  of  the  2;reat  God  ? 
Will  not  the  shadows  that  rest  on  a  part  of  his  ways 
to  man  now,  then  flee  away,  and  Jehovah  make  a 
more  bright  and  satisfactory  display  of  his  own  per- 
fections in  the  unclouded  light  of  that  future  and 
blessed  economy?  The  New  Testament  itself  war- 
rants us  in  no  doubtful  terms  to  expect  this.  Is  it 
not  to  this  very  point  that  Paul  is  speaking,  when  he 
says,  "For  now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but 
then  face  to  face,  now  I  know  in  part,  but  then  shall  I 
know  even  as  also  I  am  known."  Yes,  the  future 
dispensation  which  is  to  succeed  this,  under  which 


292  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 

we  now  live,  is  to  be  one  of  glorious  light.  Mj^stery 
will  vanish  there;  perplexity  will  no  longer  invest 
the  character  and  ways  of  God,  even  to  man's  appre- 
hension. Jehovah  will  come  forth  in  those  new  re- 
velations of  glory  in  which  all  his  dealings  with  the 
righteous  will  appear  as  a  transparency  satisfactorily 
seen  through,  and  reconciled,  and  rendered  perfectly 
consistent  with  the  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence 
of  his  nature.  We  have  then  the  strongest  reason 
to  expect  that  though  what  he  does  we  know  not 
now,  yet  we  shall  know  hereafter,  in  that  future 
and  brighter  dispensation.  Progress,  clearer  deve- 
lopment of  great  principles,  and  new  and  more  stu- 
pendous disclosures,  are  the  grand  characteristics  of 
God's  eternal  government! 

II.  A  second  reason  why  we  may  expect  to  know 
many  things  hereafter  which  we  know  not  now,  is 
that  the  minds  of  God's  people,  are  at  present  evidently 
being  trained  for  future  and  more  extended  spheres  of 
knoicledge.  God  has  the  intellect  as  well  as  the  heart 
of  his  people  under  a  great  system  of  instruction 
and  discipline  in  the  present  state.  The  vast  and 
multiform  works  of  creation  address  the  senses,  and 
appeal  to  the  soul  as  the  great  diagram  by  which  God 
would  teach  the  first  lessons  in  the  knowledge  of 
himself.  Pervaded  as  all  his  works  are  by  the  evi- 
dence of  infinite  wisdom,  benevolence  and  power, 
presenting  as  they  do  such  multitudinous  adaptations 
to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  man,  they  l^urnish  a 
fruitful  source  of  instruction  to  the  pious  and  con- 
templative mind.  Earth,  air,  and  ocean,  sun,  moon, 
and  stars,  form  the  splendid  alphabet,  struck  05"  by 
the  Almighty  hand,  to  teach  his  people  something 


MYSTERIES  OP  PROVIDENCE.  293 

of  his  own  eternal  power  and  Godhead,  and  to  train 
their  intellect  to  expanded  and  comprehensive 
thought.  When  they  have  learned  some  of  the  in- 
visible things  of  God,  by  these  things  that  are  seen, 
and  become  acquainted  with  the  wonders  of  creating- 
goodness,  then  the  great  Book  of  Providence  is  open  to 
them.  Here  the  dealings  of  God  become,  if  1  may  so 
term  them,  the  great  practical  experiments,  by  which 
he  illustrates  his  own  glorious  attributes,  and  explains 
and  exemplifies  the  great  principles  of  his  government, 
over  men  in  the  present  world.  Here  the  Christian's 
mind  is  trained  to  understand  the  wonderful  manner 
in  which  a  wise  and  benevolent  God  effects  his  coun- 
sels, and  accomplishes  his  purposes  respecting  man- 
It  is  astonishing  to  contemplate  the  intellectual  dis- 
cipline derived  from  a  careful  observation  of  the 
doings  of  Divine  Providence.  The  mind  here  ob- 
tains a  knowledge  of  those  grand  general  principles, 
on  which  God  will  act  in  the  treatment  of  his  intelli- 
gent subjects,  through  an  eternal  duration.  Many  of 
these  principles  point  to  a  future  and  immortal  state, 
as  the  condition  of  their  perfected  operation.  For 
instance,  the  principle  of  retribution,  which  is  clearly 
discoverable  in  the  present  providential  dealings  of 
God,  refers  to  a  future  scene  for  its  full  and  perfect 
operation.  The  mind  is  thus  trained  to  contemplate 
the  government  of  God,  as  only  in  its  commencement, 
here,  and  as  destined  to  extend  into  eternity  for  its 
consummation.  And  is  it  not  obvious,  that  by  thus 
training  and  disciplining  the  minds  of  his  people,  and 
exciting  in  them  hopes  and  aspirations  of  growing  in 
knowledge,  God  is  preparing  them,  is  literally  school- 
ing them  for  a  future  and  more  extended  sphere  of 


294  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 

knowledge,  where  they  may  expect  to  know  many 
things  which  they  know  not  now?  This  is  slill 
more  probable  when  we  think  of  the  great  truths  of 
God's  word  as  another  source  of  instruction  and  dis- 
cipline to  tlie  minds  of  Christians.  While  the  sacred 
oracles  begin  with  "the  first  principles  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ,"  they  do  not  end  here,  but  carry  the 
mind  on  to  the  more  retired,  profound  and  awful  truths 
of  revelation.  The  Holy  Spirit,  in  connexion  w^ith 
the  Scriptures,  "searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep 
things  of  God,"  and  shows  them  to  the  regenerated 
mind.  Here  the  mind  is  trained  to  contemplate 
God,  in  the  brighter  manifestations  of  his  glory,  as 
displayed  in  the  great  plan  of  human  redemption.  It 
becomes  deeply  interested  in  the  developments  and 
progress  of  this  plan,  and  learns  that  it  is  a  plan,  to  be 
completed  only  in  a  future  and  eternal  state.  It  pants 
to  comprehend  more  of  the  wonders  of  this  great 
scheme,  and  is  trained  to  thirst  for  the  perfection  of 
knowledge.  Yea,  the  Bible  discloses  to  the  Christian 
that  advancement  in  knowledge  here  is  a  duty,  and 
an  accelerated  progression  in  knowledge  hereafter, 
is  a  part  of  the  bliss  of  heaven.  Now  does  not  all 
this  training  evidently  shovs^j  that  God  is  preparing 
the  minds  of  his  people  for  a  higher  and  more  ex- 
tended sphere  of  knowledge  hereafter,  where  they 
will  necessarily  learn  and  understand  many  things 
which  they  know  not  now]  And  what,  in  that  future 
state,  will  be  a  more  interesting  subject  of  knowledge 
to  them,  than  the  unravellings  of  the  mysteries  of 
God's  dealings  with  them  in  the  present  life?  To 
know  the  reasons  of  those  perplexing  and  inscrutable 
dispensations,  which  tried  their  faith  and  patience 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  295 

here,  to  see  and  understand  the  completed  issues  of 
those  great  principles  in  the  schemes  of  providence, 
and  of  grace,  but  imperfectly  presented  here,  will  be 
no  inconsiderable  item  in  the  bliss  of  a  redeemed 
soul  in  heaven.  The  training  and  discipline,  then, 
which  God  is  giving  to  the  minds  of  his  people  in 
this  world,  entitle  them  to  expect  that  though  what 
he  does  they  know  not  now,  yet  they  shall  know 
hereafter. 

III.  Finally.  A  strong  reason  why  we  may  ex- 
pect to  know  hereafter,  what  we  know  not  now  is, 
that  God^s  regard  for  his  own  character  would 
seem  to  require  him  yet  to  justify  his  ways  to 
man,  and  to  show  the  reasons  of  tnany  of  his  deal- 
ings with  us  here,  which  ive  "  know  not  now?^ 
The  gratification  of  God's  own  benevolence,  and  the 
happiness  of  the  intelligent  universe,  depend  on  the 
views  which  rational  beings  take  of  his  character. 
Were  there  just  cause  to  doubt  whether  God  were 
infinitely  righteous  and  supremely  good,  this  very 
doubt  would  chill  the  ardour  of  cherubim  and  sera- 
phim, silence  the  songs  of  heaven,  and  spread  over 
the  intelligent  creation  more  than  a  sepulchral  gloom  ! 
Now,  some  things  there  are  in  his  dealings  with  men, 
at  present,  which  to  short-sighted  mortals,  seem  to 
militate  against  the  goodness  of  God.  If  God  be  all- 
wise,  all-powerful  and  infinitely  good,  then  why 
should  so  apparent  imperfection  attach  to  his  admi- 
nistration over  our  world  ?  Why  there  should  be  that 
unequal  distribution  of  good  and  evil,  to  which  we 
have  adverted — why  virtue  should  be  permitted  to 
sufier  and  lie  so  long  depressed,  and  vice  allowed  to 
prosper  and  hold  on  its  guilty  way  in   triumph,  till 


296  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 

the  close  of  life — why  the  righteous  shoulc^be  so  long 
and  so  severely  aj31icted,  and  why  the  young,  the 
amiable,  the  pious,  full  of  hope  and  promise  of  use- 
fulness to  the  church  and  the  world,  should  be  sud- 
denly cut  off,  on  the  threshold  of  their  benevolent 
career,  and  the  hardened,  indolent,  profligate  pest, 
spared,  and  permitted  to  grow  gray  in  his  iniquity, 
these  seem  strange  things  in  the  dealings  of  a  holy 
God  with  man,  and  appear  at  present  to  cast  a  shade 
on  his  infinite  benevolence.  Regard  to  his  own  cha- 
racter, then,  requires  God  to  vindicate  these  his  ways 
to  man,  and  to  remove  this  cloud  from  round  about 
him,  by  disclosing  to  an  admiring  and  adoring  crea- 
tion the  reasons  of  his  conduct  in  these  particulars! 
But  this  he  has  not  done  and  will  not  do  in  the 
present  world — for  "  it  is  the  glory  of  God  to  con- 
ceal a  matter,"  now  in  this  state  of  probation;  and 
this  concealment,  and  partial  present  darkness,  is  in- 
tended as  a  salutary  trial  of  faith  and  a  test  of  man's 
confidence  in  submission  to  that  almighty  Being, 
whose  ways  are  past  finding  out.  Yet  we  have  a 
high  assurance  that  God  will  make  glorious  develop- 
ments hereafter.  For  in  a  future  state  all  the  great 
preparations  and  arrangements  for  the  display  and 
vindication  of  Jehovah's  perfections  will  be  com- 
pleted, and  he  will  come  forth  from  the  clouds  and 
darkness  of  his  august  pavilion,  and  shine  out  on  the 
view  of  the  intelligent  creation  in  new  aspects  of 
glory.  Then  the  great  mysteries  of  providence  and 
the  perplexities  of  this  state  of  moral  discipline  will 
be  unravelled.  Then  w^e  shall  know,  and  approve, 
and  admire  the  reasons  of  his  dealings  with  us  in 
the  present  life.     Then  we  shall  see  hovv  holy  and 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  297 

good  was  God  in  permitting  suffering  virtue  for  a 
season  to  be  trodden  down  and  depressed,  and  pros- 
perous vice  to  triumph  and  to  take  advantage  of  his 
long-suffering  and  patience.  Then  we  shall  know  and 
be  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  reasons  of  God's  conduct 
in  all  the  trials  and  afflictions  of  our  lives.  We  shall 
know  hereafter  what  great  things  he  has  done  for  us, 
even  in  those  very  dispensations  that  now  seem  most 
dark  and  perplexing.  What  an  eternally  augment- 
ing happiness  to  us,  and  what  brighter  manifestations 
of  his  own  glory  he  will  then  bring  out  as  the  grand 
issues  of  our  sorrows  and  darkness  here  ! !  There 
God  will  show  us  the  finished  results  effected  by  that 
comprehensive  system  of  universal  providence,  by 
which  all  things  worked  together  for  our  good  in 
the  present  world.  Not  a  bodily  pang,  not  a  sorrow 
of  the  soul — not  an  hour  of  cloud  and  sadness  but 
will  then  appear  to  have  been  so  ordered  and  over- 
ruled as  to  promote  our  highest,  our  immortal  in- 
terests, and  to  prove  God^s  eternal  love  and  faithful- 
ness to  his  people !  0  what  may  w^e  not  expect  to 
know  hereafter  with  the  infinite  God  for  our  teacher — 
the  mysteries  of  providence  and  the  wonders  of  re- 
demption the  subject — the  vindication  of  Jehovah's 
own  character  the  object — the  light  of  heaven  the  me- 
dium of^  vision, and  the  duration  of  eternity  the  measure 
of  our  seeing  face  to  face,  and  knowing  even  as  we 
are  known  ! ! 

We  learn  from  this  subject,  in  the  Jirsf  place, 
what  reason  the  Christian  has  for  a  ca/m  and 
unqualified  submission  to  God  in  dark  and  try- 
ing circumstances.  Our  limited  powers  will  not 
permit  us  to  penetrate  the  clouds  which  at  present 


298  DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE     ' 

are  round  about  the  Almighty,  as  he  moves  on  the 
vast  affairs  of  his  universal  providence.  Many- 
things  in  our  own  personal  history  are  perplexing, 
and  severely  trying  to  our  nature.  What  God  does, 
we  know  not  now.  There  are  many  things  in  our 
moral  discipline,  whose  tendencies  and  bearings  on  our 
spiritual  interests  and  final  destiny  we  cannot  now  un- 
derstand. But  there  is  a  glorious  "Aere«/ifer"  for 
which  the  soul  is  preparing,  where  we  shall  know  all 
the  reasons  of  the  Divine  dealings  with  us  in  this 
world.  There  God  will  justify  his  ways  to  man,  and 
we  will  see  that  we  have  never  felt  a  pain,  shed  a  tear 
or  had  a  trial  that  did  not  turn  to  our  ultimate  good, 
and  manifest  the  infinite  glories  of  the  character  of  our 
God  !  What  abundant  reason  have  believers  to  ex- 
ercise a  calm  submission  to  God  in  the  most  trying 
circumstances.  They  have  no  cause  to  judge  "  any 
thing  before  the  time  till  the  Lord  come,  who  will 
bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness."  With 
a  holy  confidence  in  him,  they  can  quietly  await  the 
issues  of  the  sorrows  and  conflicts  of  this  mortal  state. 
All  mystery  will  one  day  vanish  from  the  dealings 
of  God  to  them ;  and  wisdom  and  goodness,  mercy, 
faithfulness  and  truth  shine  conspicuously  from  the 
darkest  dispensations  of  providence  here,  and  shed 
glory  on  the  character  of  God,  and  enhance  their 
happiness  hereafter  in  eternity. 

Finally.  We  see  from  this  subject,  what  a  glo- 
rious j)TOspect  of  progress  in  knowledge  is  before 
the  redeemed  mind.  The  soul  not  degraded  and 
brutalized  by  sin,  instinctively  thirsts  for  knowledge. 
Our  capacities  for  knowing,  are  the  most  cultivable 
and  expansible  of  all  our  faculties.     The  employment 


MYSTERIES  OF  PROviDENCE.  299 

of  these  capacities  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  is 
one  great  source  of  intellectual  enjoyment  in  the  pre- 
sent life.  But  the  range  of  mind  here  is  very  limited. 
Its  connexion  with  a  frail  body,  and  those  natural 
barriers  which  enclose  most  subjects  of  knowledge 
on  all  sides,  render  a  progress  commensurate  with 
its  desires  impossible  in  the  present  scene.  But 
that  bright  and  boundless  "hereafter"  to  which  the 
redeemed  soul  looks  forward,  will  furnish  a  scope  of 
advancement  ample  as  the  immensity  of  God's  do- 
minions. All  the  deep  things  of  God,  in  all  worlds, 
will  be  opened  for  the  mind's  investigation,  and  with 
its  dilating,  immortal  powers  it  may  address  itself  to 
the  work  of  a  progression  in  the  knowledge  of  God 
and  of  the  universe  till,  some  time  hereafter,  it  shall 
know  more  than  the  mightiest  angel  in  glory  now 
knows,  and  have  an  eternity  still  beyond,  in  which  it 
w^ill  study  and  expand,  and  brighten,  and  glow  with 
divine  knowledge,  till  in  immortal  transports  of  bliss 
it  will  exclaim,  "  0  the  depth  of  the  riches,  both  of 
the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God!" 


ADDRESSES 


AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF  MRS. 
SARAH  KEIM,  WU'E  OF  MR.  JOHN  KEIM,  OF  PHILA- 
DELPHIA.* 

The  event  which  has  convened  us  on  this  occa- 
sion, is  one  of  no  ordinary  interest  and  solemnity. 
In  the  departure  of  any  immortal  spirit  from  this 
world  of  probation,  there  is  a  strange,  a  mysterious, 
an  awe-inspiring  interest!  The  change  which  we 
witness  on  the  tenement  of  clay  it  leaves  behind — 
those  deep  inscrutable  ties  of  kindred  which  we  feel 
to  be  severed — the  associations  that  cluster  round 
the  departing  soul,  and  the  eager  yet  undefined  con- 
jectures that  follow  it  into  the  veiled  and  eternal  fu- 
ture on  which  it  enters,  place  the  death  of  any  mor- 
tal amongst  the  most  truly  tragic  events  in  human 
history!  But  besides  all  this,  the  deceased  may 
have  borne  a  cbaracter,  sustained  relations,  filled  a 
sphere  of  usefulness,  occupied  a  space  in  the  circle 
of  the  domestic  affections,  and  been  at  last  taken  from 
earth  by  a  series  of  prolonged  sufferings,  which 
greatly  enhance  the  mournful  interest  that  attaches 
to  death  in  ordinary  cases.  It  is  no  exaggeration 
for   me  to  say,  that  during  the  five  years  of  my 

*  Mrs.  Keun  had  long  been  a  most  consistent,  active,  useful  member 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  church,  N.  L.,  of  which  the  author  was  pastor, 
till  near  the  time  of  her  death.  He  feels  that  this  address,  hastily  writ, 
ten  on  the  occasion,  is  far  from  giving  a  proper  delineation  of  her  charac- 
ter, or  fiora  doing  justice  to  her  blessed  memory,  which  he  cherishes  with 
an  increasing  affection  and  admiration  for  the  high  Christian  excellen- 
cies it  recalls. 
26 


302  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

pastoral  life  in  this  church,  no  death  has  occurred  of 
so  striking  a  character,  and  so  eminently  fraught  with 
materials  for  deep,  Christian  reflection,  and  practical 
instruction,  as  the  decease  of  our  beloved  sister, 
whose  remains  are  here  with  us  to-day.  1  know- 
that  it  will  be  but  fulfilling  the  benevolent  wish  che- 
rished by  her  while  livin<£,  for  me  to  make  this  an 
occasion  of  drawing  profitable  instruction  from  the 
teachings  of  God,  in  this  afflictive  dispensation.  In 
his  dealings  with  this  dear  departed  saint,  it  cannot 
be  doubted  but  that  God  had  great  ulterior  purposes 
to  accomplish,  extending  beyond  the  present  limits 
of  mortal  comprehension.  Respecting  these  hidden 
purposes  of  Him  '^who  worketh  all  in  all,"  it  is  not 
my  intention  to  offer  any  conjectures.  The  history 
of  the  affliction  and  decease  of  our  lamented  sister,  and 
the  character  of  her  piety,  furnish  matter  for  obvious 
reflection  and  intelligible  instruction.  To  these 
your  attention  is  now  invited. 

I.  The  case  of  our  departed  friend  shows  that,  at 
present,  we  are  not  to  expect  to  know  all  the  reasons  of 
God^s  dispensations  towards  individuals*  It  is  true, 
in  more  senses  than  one,  that  "his  thoughts  are  not 
as  our  thoughts,  nor  his  ways  as  our  ways,"  and  that 
what  he  does  we  "know  not  now."  "  Clouds  and 
darkness"  are  often  "round  about  him,"  even  in 
his  dealings  with  his  own  beloved  children.  "It  is 
the  glory  of  God  to  conceal  a  matter;"  and  in 
some  respects  "  he  giveth  no  account  of  his  ways 
to  any."  Why  it  should  have  pleased  him  to 
have  laid  his  afflictive  hand  so  heavily  upon  her,  to 
have  called  her  away  from  the  large  sphere  of  her 
benevolent  activity,  in  which  her  expansive  charity 


OF  MRS.   SARAH  KEIM.  303 

and  steady  zeal  found  so  incessant  and  joyful  eni- 
ploynient,  and  to  have  confined  her  to  the  narrow 
precincts,  and  the  sad  monotony  of  her  sick  cham- 
ber for  years — why  he  shoidd  have  destined  her  to  so 
fearful  an  aggregation  of  physical  pains,  unmitigated 
from  the  first  even  by  the  slenderest  hope  of  re- 
covery and  perfect  restoration,  and  why  her  worn 
and  exhausted  frame  was  detained  from  its  return  to 
its  kindred  dust,  and  made  strangely  tenacious  of  life 
so  long  after  it  seemed  ready  to  be  dissolved,  are 
questions  whose  answers  are  kept  amongst  those  '^se- 
cret things  which  belong  unto  God."  Our  duty  to- 
day as  Christians  is  to  bow  reverently  to  the  majesty 
which  conceals  them,  and  to  say  with  holy  submis- 
sion and  adoration,  "Even  so,  Father,  for  so  itseem- 
elh  good  in  thy  sight." 

II.  The  event  which  has  called  us  together  to-da}^, 
shoics  Ike  daring  impiety  of  judging  of  persons^  spiritual 
state  by  the  outward  dealings  of  Providence  towards  them. 

The  disposition  manifested  by  the  Jews  in  the 
time  of  the  Saviour,  to  think  that  "  those  whose  blood 
Pilate  had  mingled  with  their  sacrifices,  or  those 
eighteen  on  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell,  and  slew 
them,  were  sinners  above  all  men  who  dwelt  in  Je- 
rusalem," is  the  disposition  of  depraved  human  na- 
ture, limited  to  no  country,  and  confined  to  no  pe- 
riod in  the  history  of  the  world.  Spiritual  pride, 
self-complacency,  and  self-righteousness,  are  at  this 
day  prone  as  ever  to  interpret  severe  and  unusual 
affliction,  in  the  case  of  a  professing  Christian,  as  a  cer- 
tain evidence  of  God's  displeasure  for  hypocrisy  or 
a  want  of  all  sincere  piety.  Though  Solomon  has  said 
th:it,  on  this  point,  we  can  know  nothing  from  all  that 


304  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

happens  under  the  sun,  and  though  God  himself  has 
commanded  us  to  ''judge  nothing  before  the  time," 
and  to  judge  not  at  all  that  we  be  not  judged,  yet 
there  is  an  impious  and  uncharitable  spirit  which 
undertakes  to  decide  what  the  spiritual  standing  of 
an  individual  in  the  sight  of  God  is  merel}''  from 
the  outward  dealings  of  Providence  to  him  in  the 
present  life.  A  spirit  that  undertakes  to  interpret 
God's  meaning  or  design  in  such  dispensations  as 
confidently  as  though  it  had  been  admitted  into  the 
infinite  profound  of  his  secret  counsels! 

Now  in  the  history  of  our  loved,  departed  sister, 
God  indignantly  rebukes  the  blasphemous  temerity 
that  dares  to  make  this  the  rule  of  its  judgment.  If 
exemption  from  suffering  and  outward  prosperity 
and  happiness,  were  the  infallible  criterion  of  being 
favourites  with  God,  then  our  departed  sister  would 
be  excluded  from  the  numher,  and  the  wicked, 
"whose  eyes  stand  out  with  fatness,"  and  wiio  "  have 
more  than  heart  could  wish,"  must  be  regarded  as 
Heaven's  selectest  favourites  !  By  this  rule  of  judg- 
ing where  would  be  ranked  those,  an  epitome  of 
whose  history  the  Holy^  Ghost  has  given  in  these  em- 
phatic terms, — "deslitute,  afficted,  tormmted?^^  How 
then  would  it  be  true  that  "  through  much  trihidntwn 
we  are  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven?"  No! 
"Whom  the  Lord  lovelh  he  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth 
every  son  whom  he  receiveth."  As  they  enter  the 
New  Jerusalem,  it  will  be  said  of  all  the  redeemed — 
"These  are  they  that  have  come  out  o^ great  tribula- 
tion.'^  la  one  respect  our  religion  is  a  religion  of 
sorrows.  We  have  to  be  "partakers  of  Christ's  suf- 
ferings," to  fill   up  or  complete  his  human  woes,  to 


OF  MRS.  SARAH  KEIM.  "   "^  305 

*'bear  about  in  our  own  bodies  the  dying  of  the  Lord 
Jesus."  How  misjudged  to  suppose  that  a  soul  to- 
tally depraved  in  a  scene  of  temptation,  accustomed 
to  do  evil,  and  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  sinful 
habit,  should  be  regenerated,  sanctified  and  fitted  for 
the  purity  of  an  eternal  heaven  without  conflict  and 
spiritual  anguish.  How  vain  to  think  that  we  can 
pass  through  a  world  ruined  by  the  apostacy,  in 
revolt  against  its  God,  and  lying  in  wickedness,  and 
be  disciplined  for  the  peace  and  repose  of  immortality, 
without  "a  great  fight  of  affliction  "  to  test  our  prin- 
ciples, and  to  develop,  exercise  and  strengthen  our 
Christian  graces;  and  how  grossly  impious  to  judge 
those  who  drink  more  deeply  than  ourselves  of 
earth's  bitter  cup,  as  being  for  that  reason  "abhorred 
of  the  Lord."  It  was  paternal  love,  calm,  bright  in 
the  bosom  of  her  covenant-keeping  God,  that  or- 
dained and  presided  over  every  stage  of  the  pro- 
tracted and  severe  affliction  which  clouded  the  closing 
years  of  our  deceased  friend's  life.  The  faithfulness 
of  a  Father's  heart  tenderly  yearning  for  the  greatest 
spiritual  good  of  his  beloved  child  appointed  for  her 
so  long  a  night  of  mourning,  before  the  joyous,  eternal 
morning  broke  in  contrast  ! 

HI.  The  case  now  under  consideration  teaches  us 
Ihe  unspeakable  impor/a?ice  of  rnaintaining  that 
rigorous  discipline  of  holy  living,  which  will  fit 
us  to  meet  prolonged  and  deep  affliction.  No  one 
knows  what  lengthened  and  severe  trials  lie  before 
him  in  the  curtained  future.  And  the  mere  possi- 
b'llity  of  trial  makes  the  precaution  to  prepare  for  it  a 
duty.  What  would  have  become  of  our  dear  depart- 
ed sister,  had  she,  during  the  former  years  of  her 

26* 


306  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FDNERAL 

life,  been  one  of  those  sunshine  Christians,  one  of 
those  gay,  worldly,  "  careless  daughters  that  are  at 
ease  in  Zion?"  How  would  she  have  been  able  to 
pass  under  the  cloud,  that  condensed  its  cold  gloom 
on  her  for  the  last  four  or  five  years?  How  soon 
would  she  have  "  fainted  in  the  day  of  adversity ,'' 
because  "her  strength  would  have  been  small." 
Had  she  lived  at  a  distance  from  God,  with  low 
attainments,  doubtful  evidences  and  feeble,  faltering 
hopes  of  her  interest  in  Christ,  her  heart  entangled 
in  the  world,  her  joys  mainly  derived  from  it,  her 
plans  and  purposes  formed  chiefly  with  reference  to 
it,  and  her  whole  religion  a  kind  oi"  secondarf/  ihln^,  ^ 
0  !  how  could  she  ever  have  fc.ced  the  furnace  of 
affliction  that  glowed  before  her  with  so  consuming 
an  intensity!  But  who  is  the  surviver  here  to-day 
that  ever  saw  her  courage  flag,  her  faith  stagger,  or 
her  lofty  Christian  spirit  quail  before  all  that  was 
appalling  in  her  sufferings?  She  met  those  sufferings 
vvith  the  unconquerable  mind  of  a  Christian  hero- 
ine. Why  did  she  enter  upon  them  so  calmly  ? 
why  bow  so  meekly,  so  sweetly  to  the  yokel  why 
display  a  fortitude  greater  than  that  which  braves 
the  cannon's  mouth?  For  long  years  before,  she 
had  been  disciplining  herself  in  the  school  of  Christ. 
She  had  learned  of  Him  who  endured  the  cross,  and 
had  armed  herself  also  with  the  same  mind.  She 
had  practised  the  stern  self-denial  of  the  Christian. 
Through  grace  she  had  obtained  the  mastery  over 
all  the  inferior  passions  and  principles  of  her  nature. 
She  had  endured  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ.  She  lived  upon  the  resources  of  her  reli- 
gion; she  had  acquired  an  unwavering  confidence  in 


OF  MRS.  SARAH  KEIM.  307 

God;  his  faithfulness  and  truth  were  her  buckler. 
She  had  a  bright  and  blessed  hope  of  her  interest  in 
the  Great  Redeemer.  She  took  hold  on  his  right- 
eousness and  strength.  She  was  nnighty  in  prayer 
and  in  the  Scriptures,  walking  circumspectly,  re- 
deeming tlie  time,  and  living  with  her  heart  fixed 
trusting  in  the  Lord,  and  her  hopes  and  treasure  in 
heaven.  This  is  the  secret  of  being  able  to  meet 
the  severest  shock  of  earthly  afflictions  without 
being  stunned  or  destroyed  by  the  collision.  Would 
we  then  be  prepared  for  the  days  of  darkness  that 
may  j^et  await  us  ?  we  must  live  deeply  devoted  to 
God,  realize  in  the  convictions  of  our  faith  the  ex- 
istence of  those  great  objects  revealed  to  us  in  his 
word,  and  feel  the  weight  of  eternal  realities.  Our 
afflictions  seem  light  and  mom^ni^Yy,  only  ^-ivhile 
we  look  at  the  things  that  are  not  seen,'' and  eternal. 
W.  The  case  of  this  departed  mother  in  Israel 
exhibits  the  amazing  resources  of  the  grace  of 
God  to  sustain  the  soul  under  j)^^olonged  and 
aggravated  bodily  sufferirig.  During  my  visits 
to  her,  e.>=pecially  in  the  past  year,  when  reflecting 
on  the  length  of  time  since  her  sufferings  had  become 
intensely  severe,  it  often  occurred  to  me  that  per- 
haps one  of  the  glorious  purposes  which  God  de- 
signed to  eifect  by  so  unusual  a  case,  was  that  he 
might  thus  exalt  the  riches  of  his  sustaining  grace, 
and  show  to  all  her  friends  and  acquaintances  what 
is  the  exceeding  great  power  of  real,  living  piety  to 
buoy  up  the  soul  under  an  appalling  weight  of  physi- 
cal pain.  In  many  respects,  hers  has  far  exceeded 
in  intensity  the  most  severe  suffering  that  has  ever 
fallen  under  my  observation  during  my  life.     The 


308  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

disappointment  she  experienced  in  her  first  hope  of 
recovery,  after  submitting  to  a  painful  operation,  by 
finding  her  disease  returning  almost  immediately  with 
aggravated  symptoms — the  exclusion  from  all  the  or- 
dinances and  public  means  of  grace  which  she  endured 
for  years,  the  pangs  of  her  delicate  and  sensitive 
mind  at  the  thought  that  her  altered  appearance*  was 
distressing  to  her  friends,  and  made  her  an  object  from 
which  the  eye  of  love  itself  sometimes  felt  disposed 
to  turn  away  in  sadness — the  physical  agonies  of 
the  long-continued  and  unnatural  pressure  on  some 
of  the  most  exquisitely  sensitive  nerves  of  the  hu- 
man frame,  her  incapability  of  having  her  sufferings 
lulled  by  ordinary  remedies,  and  the  utter  hopeless- 
ness which,  from  an  early  date,  hung  over  the 
future,  all  combined  to  render  her  affliction  one  of 
the  most  severe  to  which  our  mortal  nature  can  be 
subjected.  And  yet  through  all  these  years  of  un- 
told bodily  anguish,  a  glorious,  unseen  power  was 
there  bearing  up  the  precious  soul  of  our  dear  sis- 
ter, and  often  making  it  exceeding  joyful  in  all  its 
temporal  tribulations.  Who  ever  saw  her  really 
gloomy  and  cast  down?  Who  ever  heard  her  utter 
a  note  of  despondency?  Who  ever  saw  her  lips 
move  in  a  whisper  of  complaint  or  murmuring?  0 
what  subduing,  what  sublime  impressions  has  the 
visiter  byher  bed-side  often  had  of  the  august  power 
of  God's  rich  grace  to  sustain  his  people  in  the  great 
deeps  of  affliction  !     Her  sick  chamber  was  felt  to  be 

*  To  those  who  were  not  acquainted  with  the  meek  sufferer,  it  may  be 
necessary  to  state  that  her  disease  was  a  polypus,  or  fungous  growth  in 
the  nose,  which  greatly  altered  her  appearance,  and,  by  its  constant  en- 
largement, pressed  upon  the  right  eye  and  on  the  nerves  of  one  side  of 
the  face,  so  as  to  produce  a  degree  of  suffering  almost  inconceivable. 


OF  MRS.  SARAH  KEIM.  309 

a  privileged  place.  A  hallowed  atmo^^phere  seemed 
to  be  there  in  which  were  the  presence  of  the  in- 
visible God  and  the  secret  workings  of  his  soverei'ni, 
omnipotent  grace  upholding  the  submissive,  patient 
sufferer,  and  giving  her  victory  over  ills  whose 
weight  and  number  secined  sufficient  to  overmatch 
the  sternest  hardihood  of  human  nature  ! 

V.  and  lastly  on  this  point.  The  decease  of  our 
dear  friend  teaches  us  t/ie  connexion  that  exists 
between  a  devoted  and  holy  life,  and  a  calm 
and  peaceful  death.  The  wish  to  '^die  the  death 
of  the  righteous "  was  not  confined  to  Balaam's 
bosom  only.  It  is  common  to  men  enlightened 
Vy  the  gospel.  Multitudes  are  cherishing  vague 
and  groundless  hopes  on  this  subject,  which  will 
prove  as  the  spider's  web,  when  God  shall  take  away 
their  souls.  '^  Be  not  deceived,  bielhren;  God  is  not 
mocked.  For  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  also 
shall  he  reap."  And  those  who  during  life  "Sow 
to  the  wind,"  in  death  "shall  reap  the  whhlwincV 
In  all  cases  where  God's  grace  does  not  marvellously 
interfere  at  the  eleventh  hour,  there  is  a  strict  con- 
nexion between  the  life  that  men  lead  and  the  death 
which  they  die.  If  they  live  far  from  God,  and 
righteousness,  they  die  without  God,  and  having  no 
hope  in  their  death.  If  they  live  but  inconstantly 
for  God,  and  have  the  guilt  of  backsliding  and  un- 
repented  sin  on  the  conscience  when  they  come  to 
die,  they  have  troubled  apprehensions,  recoilings  and 
dismay,  a  great  agitation  and  fearful  conflict  in  the 
parting  hour!  On  the  contrary,  a  devoted,  con- 
sistent, holy  life,  is  one  that  has  been  spent  in  active 
preparation  for  death,  and  the  connexion  between 


310  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

such  a  life  and  a  calm  and  peaceful  exit  from  earth  is 
natural  and  obvious.  "JNIark  the  perfect  man,  and 
observe  the  upright,  for  the  end  of  that  man  is 
peace."  From  the  knowledge  we  had  of  our  depart- 
ed sister's  manner  of  life,  we  would  and  did  con- 
clude beforehand,  that  whatever  might  be  her  bodily- 
agonies,  her  mind  would  "  have  heaven  and  peace 
within  "  in  the  dying  hour.  In  this  we  were  not 
niistaken.  Some  time  before  her  departure,  when 
she  supposed  herself  and  was  supposed  by  others  to 
be  dying,  her  tranquillity  was  most  remarkable. 

Indeed,  so  deep  and  holy  was  the  quiet  of  her  soul, 
so  unruffled  its  calm,  that  she  tenderly  asked  whether 
it  could  be  right  for  her  in  the  deep  solemnities  of 
death  to  be  so  serene,  to  feel  so  signal  a  composure 
of  spirit.  I  then  remarked  to  her  that  this  seemed, 
in  her  case,  to  be  the  direct  fulfilment  of  that  blessed 
promise  of  God,  "  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace 
whose  mind  is  stayed  on  Thee.^^  She  conversed  with 
her  friends  in  an  unfaltering  voice.  She  urged  a 
darling  son,  the  Benjamin  of  the  family,  to  seek  an 
interest  in  Christ  and  to  secure  salvation,  and  did  it 
vvith  a  calm  collected,  maternal  tenderness  and  yearn- 
ing of  affection  which  I  trust  he  who  was  the  object  of 
it  will  never  forget.  Tiiough  I  had  not  the  privi- 
lege of  seeing  her  during  the  last  few  days  w^hile  the 
gradual  work  of  dissolution  was  going  on,  yet  I  was 
informed  that  her  Christian  equanimity,  her  calm, 
peaceful  confidence  in  God,  continued  unshaken  till 
the  end.  And  was  not  this  just  such  an  end  as  might 
reasonably  have  been  anticipated  for  her?  Her  long, 
consistent,  devout,  active  life  of  piety,  though  it  pur- 
chased not  the  favour,  yet  it  prepared  her  for  the  sig- 


i 


OF  MRS.  SARAH  KEIM.  311 

nal  victory  which  Goil  gave  her  over  the  last  ene- 
my. He  2;ranted  her  the  gracious  reward,  and  when 
heart  and  flesh  were  failing  her,  became  the  strength 
of  her  heart,  as  we  trust  he  is  now  herportion  forever ! 

'«  How  blest  the  righteous  when  he  dies, 
When  sinks  a  weary  soul  to  rest!" 

It  may  be  permitted,  on  this  occasion,  in  addition 
to  the  topics  of  instruction  on  which  we  have  dwelt, 
to  add  a  few  words  respecting  the  character  of  our 
departed  sister's  piety. 

This  will  be  done  not  for  the  purpose  of  eulogizing 
the  dead,  but  of  benefiting  the  living.  Il  would  be  a 
violation  of  that  spirit  of  retiring  modesty  which 
characterized  the  deceased  to  attempt  a  mere  eulogium 
on  her  worth.  But  I  know  it  to  be  in  accordance  with 
her  wishes  while  living  that  I  should  make  any  use  of 
her  case  after  her  death  which  might  tend  to  exalt 
God'sgraceand  strengthen  theconfidenceofChristians 
in  their  glorious  and  mighty  Redeemer.  It  is  but  dis- 
charging a  duty  to  the  church,  of  which  she  was  so 
long  a  worthy  member,  ^  dwell  a  few  moments  on 
the  character  of  one  whose  graces  reflected  honour 
on  the  communion  to  which  she  belonged  and  adorned 
her  own  walks  of  usefulness  witiiin  its  pale. 

I  remark  in  the  firs  I  place,  then,  that  the  piety  of 
our  departed  sister  was  strikingly  consistent.  It 
washarmoniouSjSymmetrical;  not  overgrown  in  some 
parts  and  stinted  in  others.  It  did  not  consist  in  a 
great  zeal  for  outward  observances,  attendance  on 
numerous  public  meetings,  whilst  the  retired  duties 
of  the  closet  and  the  sphere  of  the  wife  and  the  mother 
at  /lome  were  neglected.  She  was  no  officious,  itine- 
rant   female    exhorler.     She  was  a    pattern    in   the 


312  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

duties  of  every  day,  secluded,  tire-side  piety.  It  was 
here  her  light  shone  with  steady,  modest  lustre. 
She  gave  to  all  the  duties  of  religion  the  appropriate 
place  and  due  proportions  which  constitute  a  well  or- 
dered life.  If  she  were  biassed  in  favour  of  any  one 
class  more  particularly  than  another,  it  was  the  unob- 
served, unostentatious  duties  that  belong  to  the  Chris- 
tian wife  and  mother  in  the  domestic  circle,  and  where 
true  excellence  is  the  rarest  attainment  of  modern  fe- 
male piety.  While  she  was  a  messenger  of  mercy 
to  the  sick,  the  poor  and  the  afflicted  every  where 
within  the  range  of  her  acquaintance,  she  blest  her 
home  with  an  influence  which  a  ministering  angel 
could  not  supply! 

2.  Her  piety  was  the  religion  of  'principle,  it  did 
not  consist  in  those  impulses  which  external  excite- 
ment brings  to  bear  upon  some,  and  which  constitute 
all  the  religion  that  many  members  of  the  church 
seem  to  possess.  A  noisy,  exoteric,  spasmodic  piety 
this,  hardening  the  heart  of  its  possessor,  and  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  injuring  the  cause  which  he  es- 
pouses. No.  Hers  was  not  the  piety  represented 
by  the  rush  and  the  roar  of  the  torrent  that  continue 
only  while  the  rain  and  the  storm  last;  but  a  "  well  " 
springing  up  noiselessly,  and  filling  the  deep  fountains 
of  the  soul  with  the  calm,  clear,  sparkling  waters  of 
eternal  life.  It  was  a  steady  piety  fed  from  a  living 
exhaustless  source,  and  impelling  to  the  regular,  un- 
intermitted  duties  of  the  Christian  life  in  all  varieties 
of  external  circumstances  and  internal  frames  of 
mind;  as  conscientious  and  diligent  and  watchful  in 
times  of  general  declme  as  in  seasons  of  the  greatest 
religious  excitement.     It  was  a  principled  piety  an- 


OF  MRS.  SARAH  KEIM.  313 

chored  in  her  soul  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and  anclior- 
ing  her  soul  to  "the  Forerunner  within  tiic  vail"  by 
a '"'hope  sure  and  steadfast'^  amidst  all  the  tumults 
and  turmoil  of  life  and  all  the  wav^es  and  billows  of 
death  that  passed  over  her. 

3.  The  piety  of  our  departed  sister  was  pre-emi- 
nently ACTIVE.  It  was  by  no  means  of  the  Slyllle 
character.  It  did  not  consist  in  supine  meditation, 
mystical  raptures  of  vague  joy,  elysian  dreams  and 
imaginary  revelations  communicated  through  deep 
and  solitary  reflection.  No;  nor  was  it  "the  talk 
of  the  lips  that  tendeth  only  to  penury."  Our  de- 
ceased friend  never  mistook  talking  about  religion 
for  that  piety  which  consists  in  the  conscientious 
employment  of  all  our  regenerated,  rational  faculties 
in  doing  the  will  of  God  in  the  least  as  well  as  in 
the  greatest  duties  within  the  compass  of  those  ob- 
ligations that  bind  man  to  his  Maker.  Though 
noiseless  and  unpretending,  hers  was  a  piety  go- 
verned by  the  active  purpose  to  glorify  God  whe- 
ther she  ate  or  drank,  or  whatever  she  did.  It  was 
a  piety  whose  aggregate  was  niade  up  of  the  daily 
duties  of  her  whole  sphere  clone.  To  pray,  read  the 
scriptures  and  attend  on  tlie  ordinances  of  religion 
did  not  constitute  the  sum  of  her  activity.  These 
things  were  done  rather  as  a  preparation  for  and  an 
impulse  to  the  details  of  activity  that  extended 
through  longer  periods  than  those  occupied  directly 
in  devotional  services.  Like  her  divine  Lord,  she 
"went  about  doing  good,"  without  lifting  up  or 
causing  her  "voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street."  Her 
life  was  a  tissue  of  well  directed  Christian  activities. 
Her  busy  spirit  never  knew  one  of  those  languid  in- 
27 


314  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

tervals  of  repose  that  crave  public  excitement  or 
amusement  to  pass  the  time  away.  Each  day 
brought  its  task,  and  it  was  cheerfully  and  faithfully 
done.  In  her  case  the  law  of  pious  activity  seemed 
almost  as  uniform  and  incessant  in  its  operations  as 
a  law  of  nature.  And  as  her  sphere  by  confinement 
and  disease  became  more  and  more  contracted  it  was 
truly  affecting  to  see  the  force  of  her  long  established 
habits  of  activity  impelling  her  not  only  to  do  all 
within  the  limits  of  her  narrowed  circle,  but  often 
urging  her  to  venture  beyond,  till  checked  by  the 
recollection  of  her  diminished  and  diminishing 
strength. 

She  loved  the  work  her  heavenly  Father  had  given 
her  to  do,  and  did  it  with  an  unwearied  and  joyful 
industry.  She  had  a  deep  practical  insight  into  the 
beauty  and  emphasis  of  that  exquisite  couplet  of  our 
own  American  poet,  Wilcox, 

"An  angel's  wing  would  droop  if  long  at  rest, 
And  God  himself,  iftaclive,  were  no  longer  blest." 

4.  It  may  be  added  briefly  that  hers  was  a  Iruly 
humble  piety.  "  Be  clothed  with  hifmility,"  is  a  di- 
vine injunction  not  always  heeded  by  professing 
Christians.  And  in  the  case  of  some  who  attempt 
to  put  it  on,  the  garment  is  so  exceedingly  thin  that 
the  gorgeous  colours  of  the  robe  of  spiritual  pride 
shine  through  it.  But  with  all  her  zeal  and  activity, 
and  with  a  deservedly  high  reputation  for  piety, 
our  departed  sister  maintained  through  life  a  meek, 
quiet,  unaffectedly  humble  spirit.  Her  piety  was  as 
retiring  as  it  could  be  consistently  with,  a  faithful 
performance  of  the  more  public  duties  to  which  she 
was  sometimes  called.     And  in  the  performance  of 


OF  MRS.  SARAH  KEIM.  315 

such  duties  she  was  entirely  free  from  any  thing  that 
savoured  of  self-esteem  or  officiousness.  She  had 
taken  the  Saviour's  yoke  upon  her,  and  learned  of 
him  lessons  that  subdued  pride  and  self-valuation  in 
view  of  the  best  services  she  had  ever  rendered  or 
the  holiest  moments  she  had  ever  spent  during  iier 
Christian  life.  It  was  near  the  close  of  her  life  that 
the  depth  of  her  Christian  humility  was  more  espe- 
cially manifested.  Her  bright  and  blessed  hope  of 
heaven,  her  peace  of  conscience,  her  profound  tran- 
quil Hty  in  prospect  of  death  and  her  strong  expecta- 
tion of  entering  on  that  rest  which  remaineUi  for 
the  people  of  God,  were  not  founded  on  any  views 
of  her  long  and  useful  life,  the  amount  of  good  she 
had  done,  or  any  merits  of  her  own.  1  never  wit- 
nessed a  more  hearty  and  sincere  self-renunciation 
than  hers.  No  one  was  more  sensible  than  she  of 
the  imperfections  and  sins  that  attach  to  the  best 
services  of  the  Christian.  She  had  "  no  confidence 
in  the  flesh, ^'  but  "rejoiced  in  Christ  Jesus,"  cast 
herself  as  the  chief  of  sinners  upon  him,  pleaded  his 
I'ighteousness,  and,  in  the  immediate  prospect  of 
death,  committed  herself  to  and  confided  in  the  so- 
vereign mercy  and  grace  of  God  through  him  cruci- 
fied for  the  speedy  bestowment  of  that  gratuitous 
and  eternal  salvation  after  which  she  had  so  long 
panted. 

I  may  remark,  in  conclusion,  that  hers  was  a  grow- 
ing 'piety.  It  must  needs  have  been  so  from  the 
characteristics  of  it  already  mentioned.  A  consis- 
tent, principled,  active,  humble  piety  would  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  be  a  growing  piety.  Advancement 
is  the  great  law  of  vital  religion.  This  is  the  law  of 
nil  life  till  it  has  attained  its  acme  and  completed  the 


316     ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF  MRS.  KEIM. 

purposes  for  which  it  was  given.  "  The  life  of  God  '^ 
therefore  in  the  soul  of  man  is  necessarily  progres- 
sive through  the  whole  period  of  his  probation  on 
earth.  Hence  the  propriety  of  the  inspired  injunc- 
tion, ''  Grow  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.''  Our  dear  departed 
sister  endeavoured  "to  walk  after  this  rule."  She 
was  not  content  with  stinted  attainments  in  holiness. 
She  availed  herself  of  a  diligent  and  punctual  use  of 
the  various  means  of  spiritual  improvement,  expect- 
ing to  advance  in  the  divine  life  only  in  God's  insti- 
tuted method,  and  relying  on  those  appliances  of 
sanctification  which  he  has  appointed. 

Having  thus  taken  advantage  of  the  laws  and 
agencies  established  by  God  to  effect  the  result,  and 
with  an  humble  reliance  on  the  Holy  Spirit  to  give 
them  efficiency, she  moved  steadily  onward,  "abound- 
ing more  and  more"  in  the  graces  that  adorn  the 
Christian's  character  and  glorify  the  Christian's  God. 
Though  she  seemed  but  little  sensible  of  it  herself, 
others  could  see  the  progress  she  made  in  all  that  is 
lovely  and  of  good  report  in  female  piety.  Hers 
v^as  a  gradual  5/eaf/^  growth,  "first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  It  was 
deeply  interesting  to  notice  the  accelerated  advance- 
ment she  made,  however,  after  she  began  to  bring 
forth  those  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness,  which 
are  the  result  of  sanctified  affliction.  Not  only  was 
there  a  larger  development,  but  there  was  a  richness, 
a  maturity,  a  prospective  adaptation  in  her  graces, 
fitting  her  to  shine  in  a  brighter  sphere  and  pointing 
to  that  glorious  consummation,  the  'perfection  of  holi- 
ness, amongst  the  saints  in  light,  in  which  we  trust 
her  redeemed  spirit  is  now^  a  joyful  participant. 


ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  EDUCATION  SOCIETY.  317 


II. 


ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  TflE  ANNIVERSARY  OF 
THE  AMERICAN  EDUCATION  SOCIETY.  BOSTON, 
MAY,  1845, 

God  has  given  to  us  such  a  ph3'slcal  constitution, 
that  certain  elements  are  indispensably  necessary  to 
its  existence.  Light  and  air,  warmth  and  food,  are 
essentially  requisite  to  the  natural  and  healthy  func- 
tions of  our  physical  structure.  Subtract  any  one 
of  these,  and  that  structure  would  feel  the  void,  and 
fall  to  attain  all  the  ends  for  which  it  was  designed. 

Man's  moral  constitution  follows  the  same  ana- 
logy. Certain  moral  elements  are  indispensably  ne- 
cessary to  its  healthful  existence.  Spiritual  light 
and  warmth,  a  spiritual  atmosphere  and  aliment  are 
indispensable  to  the  proper  functions  of  our  moral 
constitution,  and  to  the  attainment  of  those  high  ends 
for  which  it  was  originally  destined.  Subtract  any 
one  of  these  elements,  and  injury,  if  not  moral  death, 
will  be  the  inevitable  result  to  our  spiritual  nature. 

Now,  sir,  an  educated,  pious  ministry  of  the  gos- 
pel is  one  of  the  necessaries  of  spiritual  life.  It  is 
not  a  mere  luxury  or  superfluity.  The  experiment 
of  dispensing  with  such  a  ministry  would  be  fatal; 
an  experiment  which  we  trust  w^ill  never  be  at- 
tempted in  our  country,  as  it  has  been  partially  in 
27* 


318  ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE 

some  other  countries.  It  is  true  that  the  Christian 
ministry  has  always  been  greatly  in  the  way  of  con- 
summating those  schemes  of  gigantic  wickedne.^^s  on 
which  the  minds  of  talented  and  ambitious  sinners 
are  most  intent.  And  it  has  encountered  the  com- 
bined and  deadly  hostility  of  earth  and  hell,  but 
without  being  displaced  from  that  rank  which,  under 
God,  it  still  holds,  as  the  great  agent  of  spiritual  life 
to  a  '^  world  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins.'' 

An  intelligent,  holy  ministry  has  such  an  influ- 
ence on  man,  in  all  the  higher  relations  and  inte- 
rests of  his  mortal  and  immortal  being — such  an  influ- 
ence on  his  intellectual  habitudes  and  condition — 
such  a  control  over  his  religious  opinions — such  an 
instrumentality  in  the  conversion  of  his  soul  and  the 
moulding  of  his  religious  character — it  has  such 
bearings  on  the  universal  spread  of  the  gospel — such 
an  intimate  prospective  relation  to  those  stupendous 
results  of  millennial  glory  yet  to  be  realized  in  our 
world;  and  it  so  carries  forward  its  issues  on  the 
eternal  joys  of  the  righteous  and  the  eternal  woes  of 
the  wicked,  to  whom  it  has  been  the  *•' savour  of  life 
unto  life,  or  of  death  unto  death  "  here,  that  it  would 
seem  but  a  waste  of  words  on  this  occasion  to  argue 
the  importance  and  necessity  of  the  existence  and 
operations  of  a  society  like  this,  whose  object  it  is  to 
furnish  such  a  ministry  to  the  teeming  millions  of 
our  beloved  country. 

Whatever  may  be  true  of  other  countries  and 
other  states  of  society,  where  freedom  of  thought, 
of  speech,  and  of  the  press  is  scarcely  known,  and 
where  the  public  mind  is  overawed  by  civil  power 
or  prescriptive  authority,  and  however  such  countries 


EDUCATION  SOCIETY.  319 

may  dispense  with  a  full  supply  of  educated,  de- 
voted ministers  of  the  gospel,  this  furnishes  no  pre- 
cedent for  us.  There  is  a  stringent  necessity  and 
philosophic  rationale  for  such  a  ministry  in  this  coun- 
try. For  there  is  an  excitability  of  the  public  mind 
and  a  susceptibility  of  impulse  on  the  moral  feelings  in 
this  country  that  cannot  be  safely  trusted  to  the  con- 
trol of  any  influence  less  potent  and  commanding 
than  that  of  the  gospel  in  the  hands  of  an  enlightened 
and  able  ministry.  The  excitability  of  the  popular 
mind  in  this  country  is  forcing  itself  powerfully  on 
the  notice  of  the  most  careless  observer.  Of  this 
the  prevalence  and  rage  of  political  and  religious 
controversy  vvitliin  the  last  few  years  is  ample  proof. 
There  is  a  commotion,  an  up-heaving  and  breaking 
fjith  of  thouglit  and  feeling  here,  not  less  ceaseless 
and  sublime  than  the  tumults  of  the  ocean.  The  in- 
tellectual action  on  all  subjects  of  public  and  general 
interest,  in  this  country  is  most  intense.  The  minds 
of  the  populace  seem  to  be  under  some  new  and  un- 
wonted impulse.  They  seize,  with  a  giant  grasp,  on 
every  thing  within  the  sphere  of  their  movements; 
— ^^on  matters  of  individual  enterprise — on  the  affairs 
of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  polity — on  the  institutions 
and  very  organization  of  the  social  economy  itself. 
The  glow  of  this  fervid  intellectual  action  threatens 
to  melt  down  those  forms  of  things  that  have  with- 
stood for  ages  the  influence  of  the  ordinary  elements. 
Now  it  requires  neither  prophetic  vision  nor  mo- 
dern mesmeric  clairvoyance  to  see  that  this  excitabi- 
lity of  the  popular  mind  will  become  a  prodigious 
power  for  good  or  for  evil,  just  according  to  the  di- 
rection which  it  shall  take. 


320  ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE 

The  heart  as  well  as  the  mind  of  this  country  is 
capable  at  present  of  being  influenced  by  the  most 
violent  impulses.  In  the  history  of  every  nation, 
there  is  a  period  which  may  be  denominated  the  me- 
ridian or  manhood  of  those  agitating  passions  and 
powerful  prejudices  which  result  from  the  struggling 
competitions  for  wealth — from  the  rivalry  and  colli- 
sion of  sectional  interests — from  the  envy  of  rank, 
and  the  ignoble  jealousies  of  political  ambition.  We 
seem  to  have  entered  on  this  perilous  epoch  of  our 
national  existence. — For  within  the  last  few  years  it 
has  been  truly  appalling  to  witness  those  bursts  of 
popular  passion,  and  that  lawless,  shameless,  tumul- 
tuous spirit  of  excitement  that  have  actually  drama- 
tized all  the  affairs  of  life  in  this  country,  from  the 
doings  of  the  district  school-house  up  to  the  legisla- 
tion of  Congress,  often  blending  the  ludicrous  ex- 
tremes of  comedy  with  a  supreme  tragicalit}^  Pub- 
lic feeling  is  capable  of  being  driven  on  noio  with 
tremendous  momentum,  by  causes  which  twenty-five 
years  ago  might  have  expended  all  their  force  with- 
out attracting  notice. 

Excitement  is  the  order  of  the  day — the  very  element 
in  which  the  great  heart  of  this  nation  beats  with  a 
quickened  and  morbid  violence.  Popular  sensibility 
has  become  diseased,  and  like  the  morbid  sensibilities 
of  the  human  frame  in  sickness,  if  not  soothed  and 
'-educed  within  natural  and  healthy  limits,  will  ex- 
i:aust  and  prostrate  all  the  best  energies  of  thqfbody 
politic. 

Now  what  influence  can  successfully  grapple  with 
the  intellect  and  the  heart  of  this  country  under  the  " 
mighty  and   maddening  impulses  that  agitate  them 


EDUCATION  SOCIETY.  321 

and  sway  tlieir  movements?  None  but  tliat  of  the 
gospel  preached  by  an  educated,  able  ministry,  and 
accompanied  by  "the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from 
heaven."  If  the  excitability  of  American  mind  is 
even  diverted  from  that  devotion  to  mercantile  en- 
terprise and  pecuniary  adventure  which  has  pr'ocured 
for  us  with  too  much  reason  the  reproach  of  being  a 
nation  of  speculators,  of  idolaters,  bowing  down 
to  "  The  Almighty  Dollar,"  it  will  be  by  that 
gospel  which  anchors  its  great  principles  in  the  hu- 
man conscience;  elevates  the  thoughts  to  spiritual 
objects,  and  fires  the  mind  with  lofty  aspirations  af- 
ter "durable  riches  and  righteousness"  in  the  hea- 
vens. This  is  the  only  power  that  can  give  to  the 
excitable  energies  of  mind  an  elevation  and  a  scope 
more  congenial  to  their  own  native  mightiness;  that 
can  bear  them  up  in  its  ascending  car  to  that  purer 
atmosphere  and  brighter  sunshine  of  our  spiritual  na- 
ture, where  they  can  pursue,  unclouded  and  undis- 
turbed by  the  darkness  and  the  din  of  the  regions 
below,  the  exalted  themes  of  thought  embraced  in 
revelation,  and  feel  the  vital  warmth  of  those  enno- 
blinii;  emotions  of  piety  which  the  gospel  alone  can 
inspire. 

The  gospel  also,  preached  by  an  educated,  qualified 
ministry,  and  accompanied  by  divine  power,  forms 
the  only  check  and  balance  that  can  be  employed  to 
equalize  the  movements  of  popular  passion  and  pre- 
judice in  this  hey-day  of  their  intense  excitability. 
Apart  from  this,  mere  education,  general  intelligence, 
penal  laws  and  public  sentiment  will  impose  no  safe 
and  certain  restraint  upon  them.  These  will  prove 
but  as  the  green   withes  on  San\son's  arms.     Con- 


322  ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE 

fine  these  passions  and  prejudices  within  the  strong- 
est walls  and  the  most  massive  gates  that  human 
power  can  rear,  and  ''like  him  of  Gaza,"  they  will 
tear  up  "those  gates  with  the  posts"  and  carry  them 
away  "up  the  hill"  of  their  impetuous  career.  No- 
thing but  the  mighty  and  eternal  sanctions  of  the  gos- 
pel, plied  with  all  the  tact  and  skill  and  fidelity  of 
an  intelligent,  powerful  ministry,  can  overawe  these 
passions,  and  reduce  and  confine  their  movements 
within  safe  limits.  Nothing  can  efiectually  quiet 
the  violent  throbbings  of  the  public  heart  in  this 
country,  but  that  "peace  of  God  "  which  is  only  to 
be  found  in  a  pure  and  vital  Christianity.  Nothing 
can  rescue  its  moral  feelings  from  the  unhallowed 
impulses  that  will  drive  them  headlong  into  fatal  ex- 
tremes, but  that  constraining  love  of  Christ  whose 
sway  is  established  only  by  a  successful  ministry. 
The  gospel  alone  presents  those  objects,  awakens 
those  emotions,  gives  birth  to  those  hopes,  urges  to 
those  enterprises,  and  adds  that  omnipotence  of 
motive  which  takes  precedence  of  all  other  impulses 
on  the  moral  feelings  of  a  community.  It  alone  can 
subsidize  all  the  susceptibilities  of  deep  and  intense 
emotion  belonging  to  our  nature,  and  direct  them  in 
the  career  of  glory,  and  honour,  and  immortality. 

And  now,  sir,  with  this  excitability  of  the  popular 
mind,  and  this  capability  of  violent  impulse  by  the 
popular  heart  of  this  countr}^,  is  it  to  be  supposed 
that  those  who  are  destitute  of  an  educated  ministry 
and  of  a  pure  gospel  will  be  long  without  a  religion 
of  soim  hind?  Man's  moral  constitution,  apart 
from  any  incidental  enhancement  of  its  cravings, 
instinctively  demands  a  religion  of  some  description. 


EDUCATION  SOCIETY.  32? 

— Nay,  more,  will  have  it.  The  moral  history  of 
the  world  is  one  vnst  volume  of  testimony  to  the 
truth  of  this  declaration.  All  the  egregious  systems 
of  overgrown  error,  superstition  and  idolatry,  that 
have  cursed  earth  since  the  apostacy,  have  arisen 
from  and  been  perpetuated  by  the  stern,  uncompro- 
mising, unconquerable  demands  of  man's  moral  na- 
ture for  some  scheme  of  religion.  And  I  have  often 
thought  that  a  psychological  history  of  the  various 
religions  of  the  globe  would  be  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting records  relating  to  any  of  the  developments 
of  human  nature.  Such  a  history  would  show  that 
the  religious  principle  is  an  element  inseparable  from 
our  common  nature;  an  element  which  must  necessa- 
rily be  evolved  and  brought  into  play  from  the  very 
circumstances  of  man's  present  being, — an  element 
as  liable  to  misdirection  and  perversion  as  any  one 
belonging  to  our  constitution,  and  an  element  which 
when  once  it  escapes  the  legitimate  control  that  God 
designs  for  it,  is  more  erratic,  destructive  and  irre- 
claimable than  any  of  the  fearful  agencies  of  the 
fallen  mind. 

Now  this  is  true  of  the  religious  principle  gene- 
rally, universally.  But  it  deserves  special  notice  that 
this  principle  is  being  developed  in  our  country  in 
connexion  with  habits  of  thought,  of  feeling,  and  of 
action,  which  will  give  to  it  an  intensity  and  a  move- 
ment that  characterizes  it  in  no  other  country  on  the 
face  of  the  globe.  This  principle  is  not  connected 
herewith  Asiatic  supineness  and  irresolution,  nor  with 
tropical  languor,  luxury  and  etfeminacy,  nor  with 
the  stinted  physical  growth  and  ice-girt  tempera- 
ments of  the  Arctic  circle,  nor  with  the  gross  igno- 


324  ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE 

ranee  of  the  New  Zealander,  nor  with  minds  that 
beat  against  the  bars  of  iron  and  the  gates  of  brass 
with  which  despotism  has  absolutely  hooped  in  free- 
dom of  thought.  No.  The  religious  principle  here  is 
brought  into  play  in  those  physical  circumstances 
that  train  man  to  activity,  hardihood,  love  of  liberty, 
enterprise,  generous  emulation  and  noble  daring.  It 
is  connected  with  minds  that  have  descended  from 
the  Pilgrims,  to  whom  freedom  of  thought  is  their 
native,  vital  air, — minds  that  enjoy  all  the  benefits  of 
popular  education  and  general  intelligence,  and  that 
have  been  expanded  and  stimulated  by  the  sunshine 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  What  may  not  the 
religious  principle  in  these  connexions  and  relations 
be  and  do,  if  neglected?  What  a  fearful  havoc  of 
the  fairest  territories  held  out  to  the  conquest  of  the 
church  of  God  in  this  country,  must  be  the  inevita- 
ble result,  if  the  religious  principle,  with  the  energies 
peculiar  to  it  here,  is  permitted  to  mount  the  car, 
lead  the  way,  and  drive  like  Jehu  in  the  career  of 
fanaticism  and  imposture!  Let  it  escape  the  control 
of  an  intelligent,  able  ministry,  and  seize  with  both 
hands  on  "the  horns  of  the  altar"  of  Romanism, 
Mormonisni,  Shakerism,  or  Satanism,  in  its  gross- 
est forms,  and  it  will  hold  on  there  with  the  grasp 
of  him  of  old,  who  fled  for  refuge  from  the  "  avenger 
of  blood. '^  No  voice  can  recall  it  from  its  false  and 
perilous  position  there;  no  redeeming  influence  is 
ever  likely  to  reach  it,  and  bring  it  back  again,  and 
couple  its  agency  with  the  progress  and  the  power 
of  a  pure  Christianity.  Your  Society,  sir,  means  to 
do  something,  and  77iust  do  something  to  prevent  a 
result  so  pre-eminently  disastrous  to  all  the  best  iti- 


EDUCATION  SOCIETY.  325 

terests  of  the  members  of  this  great  American  com- 
munity. But  what  you  do  must  be  done  quickly. 
It  is  not  a  question  between  the  influence  of  the  gos- 
pel and  the  mere  absence  of  that  influence  on  the 
religious  principle  of  this  country.  The  alternative 
is  not  one  of  passivity  or  simjjle  negation.  The 
question  for  you  to  decide  is,  whether  you  will 
promptly  fill  the  wide  field  with  a  ministry  whose 
hands,  made  strong  by  "the  arms  of  the  mighty  God 
of  Jacob,"  shall  take  fast  hold  on  the  religious  prin- 
ciple of  the  community,  develop,  discipline  and 
direct  it  in  its  legitimate  sphere;  or  whether  that 
principle,  at  once  breaking  away  from  all  restraint, 
shall  commence  its  lawless  career,  and  couple  itself 
with  and  become  the  very  animating  spirit  of  those 
hideous  forms  of  error,  enthusiasm,  imposture  and 
fanaticism,  that  shall  stalk  in  spectral  train  over  the 
land  left  desolate!  You  owe  it  to  God,  to  your 
country,  to  the  soul's  immortality  and  eternal  life, 
to  preoccupy  that  field  with  labourers  who  shall 
make  it  all  "as  the  garden  of  the  Lord." 

There  are  associations  connected  with  the  object 
hnd  the  scene  of  your  society\s  labours  peculiarly 
dear  to  tiie  intelligent  Christian.  It  is  the  Ameri- 
can Education  Society.  Its  object  is  to  disci- 
pline and  qualify  an  able  ministry  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament for  our  own  beloved  country.  The  off"er- 
ings  which  an  educated,  pious  ministry  brings  to 
the  family  altars  of  a  nation,  and  its  bearings  and 
blessed  results  on  all  the  sacred  charities  of  domes- 
tic life,  give  to  that  Societ}^,  whose  sole  object  it  is 
to  furnish  such  a  ministry,  a  precedence  in  our  af- 
fections as  natural  as  it  is  just  and  coincident  with 
28 


326  ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE 

the  obligation  to  provide  for  "  those  of  our  own 
household."  On  the  theatre  of  your  Society's  ope- 
rations also  cluster  all  the  tender  and  delightful 
associations  that  belong  to  ^' our  oictiy  our  native 
land.^'  This  country  is  unlike  to  all  others  in  the 
world's  annals  in  this  respect,  that  in  its  organi- 
zation and  commencement  as  a  nation,  an  enlight- 
ened and  pious  ministry  was  interwoven  with  the 
very  warp  and  woof  of  society.  The  church 
steeple  was  one  of  the  objects  that  indicated  the 
first  breach  which  colonial  existence  and  enter- 
prise made  on  our  primeval  forests.  It  is  the  land 
of  our  fathers'  sepulchres,  hallowed  by  the  sleep- 
ing dust  of  a  pious  and  noble  ancestry,  who  lived 
and  laboured,  endured  hardness,  wept,  and  pray- 
ed, and  died,  for  the  advancement  of  those  high 
and  imperishable  interests  which  it  is  the  object  of 
your  Society,  by  means  of  an  able  ministry,  to  se- 
cure to  our  country.  It  is  the  land,  too,  in  which 
we  in  turn  are  to  leave  our  beloved  children,  after 
death  shall  have  terminated  our  parental  counsel 
and  control  over  them,  and  dissolved  all  our  ter- 
restrial relations.  0,  sir.  Christian  parents  and 
Christian  patriots  have  a  deep,  an  absorbing  inte- 
rest in  the  scene  of  your  society's  labours.  It  is 
the  land  in  which  our  children  and  posterity  are  to 
have  their  social,  political  and  religious  character 
and  condition  modified  and  made  what  they  shall 
be,  by  the  kind  of  moral  influence  which  pervades 
it,  and  the  grand  issues  of  their  probation  in  this 
world  shaped  for  the  one  to  come.  A  land,  too 
the  very  nature  of  whose  institutions  requires  an 
educated,  able  ministry   of  the  gospel    as  a    given 


1 


UDrCATION  SOCIETY.  ^87 

force  in  their  support,  and  a  grand  conservative 
element  of  society.  Yes,  sir,  revivals  of  religion, 
pervading,  pure  revivals,  promoted  and  sustained 
by  such  a  ministry,  are  the  patriot's  last  best  hope 
for  his  counlry.  The  spirit  of  revivals  is  the  only 
redeem'mi^  spirit  of  the  republic.  What  has  made 
New  England  what  she  is,  and  so  different  from 
other  portions  of  our  countr}''  in  the  number  of 
her  churches,  the  intelligence,  religious  character 
and  morals  of  her  population?  What  has  spared 
her  to  such  an  extent  from  popular  tumult,  Lynch- 
law,  and  rampant  mobocracy?  The  profound  care 
and  liberality  with  which  from  the  infancy  of 
her  colonial  existence  she  provided  for  the  education 
of  a  competent  ministry.  She  shows  now  the  blessed 
fruitsof  this  her  wise  policy.  Here  in  New  England, 
church-spires  glitter,  and  the  church  green  greets  the 
eye  every  where  over  her  beautiful  landscapes,  whilst 
in  other  portions  of  our  country,  less  careful  in  this 
respect,  the  church  spire  glitters  as  rarely  as  a  single 
grain  of  golden  sand  on  the  vast  beach,  and  the 
church  green  is  as  the  sea-weed's  solitary  leaf  on  the 
bosom  of  the  ocean.  Yes,  sir.  New  England  is  a 
practical,  powerful  verification  of  the  sentiment,  that 
the  spirit  of  revivals  is  the  redeeming  spirit  of  this 
great  republic.  It  is  vain  to  talk  of  our  admirable 
civil  institutions,  our  incomparable  forms  of  go- 
vernment, our  indomitable  spirit  and  love  of  repub- 
lican liberty,  our  noble  constitution  and  glorious 
union,  as  thougb  these  mere  epithets  could  confer 
on  them  immortality.  It  is  vain  to  tell  us  too  that 
were  the  volcanic  elements  connected  with  the 
question  of  slavery  bound  in  "everlasting  chains." 


328  ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE 

this  would  be  all  that  would  be  requisite  to  prevent 
this  nation  from  ultimate  overthrow.  Would  that 
that  most  exciting  question  were  settled  with  safe- 
ty to  the  interests  of  all  concerned,  and  especially 
with  permanent  security  to  the  interests  of  the 
slaves  themselves.  But  suppose  this  grand  consum- 
mation was  realized  this  moment,  and  the  shouts  of 
emancipated  millions  were  to  cleave  the  ear  of  night 
in  coming  from  the  gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  extremi- 
ties of  Maine,  would  this  alone  remove  that  dark 
cloud  which  has  been  rolled  up  on  the  flight  of  our 
national  eagle  between  his  eye  and  the  sun?  or  abate 
the  violence  of  that  storm  which  has  driven  him 
from  his  course  and  so  inverted  all  his  plumage,  that 
his  very  species  can  scarcely  be  identified?  No,  sir. 
There  are  other  elemental  forces  of  social  divellency 
and  national  disruption  in  this  country,  dormant  nowy 
it  is  true,  because  another  p(irt  of  the  great  crater  is 
active  at  present — unsuspected,  too,  by  the  whole 
tribe  of  quack  philanthropists  and  modern  self-con- 
stituted reformers — but,  nevertheless,  really  existing, 
and  only  awaiting  the  displacement  of  a  faithful 
ministry  and  of  Christian  influence,  to  break  forth 
into  the  most  destructive  activity. 
,  And  those  who  would  carry  their  favourite  mea- 
sures for  benefiting  any  portion  of  our  country,  by 
sacrificing  the  Christian  ministry,  and  driving  the 
ploughshare  of  ruin  over  the  Christian  churches,  show 
that  they  know  not  the  alphabet  of  the  science,  and 
have  never  estimated  the  power  of  these  divellent 
forces.  Now  there  is  no  adequate  curb  for  what  Car- 
lyle  quaintly  calls  "the  distilled  rascality  of  this  planet,'^ 
but  those  embankments  which  the  lives  and  labours 
of  an  able  ministry  throw  up  around  it,  by  proclaim- 


EDUCATION  SOCIETY.  329 

ing  the  law  of  God,  vindicating  and  sustaining  his 
Sabbaths,  and  uttering  his  holy  oracles  in  the  sanc- 
tuaries of  the  land. 

I  repeat  then,  sir,  that  the  spirit  of  a  pure,  per- 
vading piety,  promoted  and  sustained  instrumentally 
by  such  a  ministry,  is  the  redeeming  spirit  of  this  great 
republic, — the  only  genius  that  can  safely  preside 
over  our  august  national  destinies,  and  preserve  and 
perpetuate  our  social,  civil  and  religious  institutions. 
Yes,  sir,  if  the  eagle  of  our  national  flag  is  to  wave 
for  ever  on  the  air  of  freedom,  it  will  be  by  having 
enstamped  by  its  side  the  image  of  the  Heavenly 
Dove!  And  now,  in  view  of  this  fact,  am  I  not  au- 
thorized, in  conclusion,  to  say,  that  whatever  other  bs- 
nevolent  associations  and  agencies  of  this  land  may 
tire  and  faint  in  their  way,  your  Society  must  not? 
It  must  know  no  point  of  pause  or  cessation,  till  it 
shall  have  actually  filled  the  high  functions  of  its  or- 
dination, in  supplying  the  whole  land  with  an  edu- 
cated, able,  faithful  ministry  of  the  New  Testament, 
Failure  is  a  thought  not  for  one  moment  to  be  enter- 
tained in  connexion  with  the  movements  of  this  Soci- 
ety. It  may  be  tolerated  as  a  possibility  in  mercantile 
enterprise  and  secular  adventure,  but  not  in  the  grand 
agency  of  spreading  and  sustaining  the  gospel  in  this 
nation.  This  is  an  agency  whose  fiiilure  would  be  far 
more  disastrous  than  the  fabled  failure  of  Phaeton 
when  intrusted  with  the  chariot  of  the  sun.  God  has 
committed  to  your  Society,  in  part,  the  keeping  and 
the  course  of  that  golden  chariot  which  is  the  great 
dispenser  of  those  reflected  rays  of  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness,  that  are  yet  to  flood  immensity  with 
light,  and  eternity  with  glory! 
28* 


330  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF 


III. 


AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF 
MRS.  CATHERLNE  B.  PATTON,  WIFE  OF  THE  REV. 
JOHN  PATTON,  AND  DAUGHTER  OF  JAMES 
BRUEN,  ESQ.,  OF  PHILADELFHLV. 

When  God  speaks  by  a  visitation  like  the  one 
which  has  convened  us  on  this  mournful  occasion, 
it  is  difficult  for  man  to  speak  without  detracting 
from  the  eloquence  of  the  voice  divine.  Connected 
with  the  event  of  death  itself  in  any  circumstances 
is  an  over-awing,  all-subduing  impressiveness  that 
cannot  be  augmented  by  what  man  may  say.  And 
even  when  attended  by  numerous  mitigating  consi- 
derations it  carries  with  it  to  the  human  heart  an  ap- 
peal utterly  overwhelming. 

On  its  pale  insignia  no  mortal  eye  can  look  un- 
m.oved.  The  associations  that  cluster  around  death 
are  peculiar  to  that  event  alone.  We  think  of  se- 
vered ties  that  can  never  be  bound  on  earth  again. 
We  think  of  blighted  hopes  that  can  bud  and  bloom 
no  more  in  this  cold  soil.  We  think  of  perished 
joys  that  no  lapse  or  vicissitudes  of  years  will  re- 
store. We  think  of  the  desolations  of  tlie  last  fare- 
well— of  hearts  divided  to  meet  no  more  belovv'  the 
skies — of  homes  made  solitary,  and  of  hearths  whose 


MRS.  CATHERINE  B.  PATTON.  331 

lights  are  extinguished.  We  think  of  the  darkness 
and  solitude  of  the  tomb — of  the  fearful  blank  in  be- 
reaved affection,  and  the  withering  loneliness  of  spi- 
rit as  the  mourners  go  about  the  streets.  These  are 
some  of  the  associations  inseparably  connected  with 
death.  But  the  great  destroyer  may  make  such  a 
selection  of  his  victims  and  achieve  his  gloomy  tri- 
umph in  such  circumstances  as  to  give  an  enhanced 
tenderness  and  solemnity  to  these  associations,  and 
greatly  to  augment  the  pangs  of  bereavement.  In 
the  instance  that  has  brought  us  together  to-day,  we 
feel  more  than  an  ordinary  sympathy  and  sorrow. 
Death  has  suddenly  stretched  its  chilling  shadow 
over  a  little  family  in  disastrous  contrast  with  the 
recent  warmth  and  sunshine  of  wedded  joys  and  all 
the  sweets  of  a  happy  home.  The  sad  tidings  of  the 
unexpected  and  premature  departure  of  our  beloved 
sister  from  her  important  station  and  newly  entered 
sphere  of  usefulness  has  cast  a  deep  gloom  over  this 
congregation,  and  created  a  wide-spread  emotion  of 
profound  regret  and  grief  in  the  community.  This 
constitutes  one  of  those  scenes  of  tender,  and  in  some 
respects  of  tragic  separation  by  death,  in  which  the 
depth  and  intensity  of  our  emotions  greatly  embar- 
rass our  utterance.  I  cannot  be  insensible  to  the 
difficulty  of  meeting  your  expectations,  and  satisfy- 
ing all  the  sorrowing  hearts  of  this  large  assembly 
by  any  thing  that  I  may  say.  I  am  reminded  by  the 
aspect  of  this  audience,  that  there  is  a  deep,  pervading 
sympathy — a  subdued  and  silent  sorrow  to  which  no 
addition  can  be  made  by  any  remarks  that  may  be 
offered  on  this  occasion.  Each  of  us  must  feel  that 
this  is  one  of  those  instances  in  which  "  the  eye  af- 


332  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF 

fects  the  heart."  Busy  thought,  quickened  by  the 
keenness  of  your  grief,  is  depicting  more  graphically 
than  language  can  portray,  the  whole  of  this  ex- 
quisitely mournful  scene. 

We  feel  the  utter  impotency  of  our  sympathies 
and  our  tears  to  sooth  the  broken  hearts  that  mourn 
here  to-day.  We  feel  too  how  powerless  is  language 
as  a  medium  to  communicate  the  melancholy  emo- 
tions and  aching  thoughts  excited  on  such  an  occa- 
sion. And  were  the  design  of  this  service  merely 
to  add  to  the  mournful  interest  of  this  scene,  I  would 
not  utter  another  word.  But  the  striking  and  solemn 
providence  of  God  that  has  removed  from  us  this  be- 
loved sister,  like  all  similar  dealings  of  His  which 
come  under  our  observation,  is  designed  to  teach  some 
impressive  lessons,  and  makes  a  resistless  appeal  to 
the  most  thoughtless  heart  in  this  assembly. 

The  spiritual  and  eternal  benefit  that  may  be  de- 
rived from  a  proper  improvement  of  this  bereaving 
dispensation  by  mourning  survivers  is  the  only  com- 
pensation for  the  loss  which  they  deplore.  This 
constitutes  the  only  sweet  that  can  mingle  in  this 
bitter  cup — "too  bitter  else." 

We  would  be  delinquent  in  duty  to  God,  and  re- 
creant to  our  own  highest  interests,  did  we  not  strive 
to  welcome  to  our  consciences  and  our  hearts,  the 
solemn  and  impressive  lessons  which  this  trying 
dispensation  is  adapted  to  teach.  Yea,  were  not  our 
dear,  deceased  sister  beyond  the  reach  of  mortal 
anxieties,  and  were  she  permitted  to  revisit  this 
sanctuary,  and  to  speak  and  to  act  out  the  Christian 
benevolence  of  her  heart  in  reference  to  this  occasion, 
I  doubt  not  her  solicitude  and  prayers,  her  counsels 


MRS.  CATHERINE  B.  PATTON.  333 

and  entreaties,  would  all  combine  to  urge  the  living 
to  such  an  improvement  of  this  mournful  event. 
While  we  bow  then  in  profound  submission  to  God, 
who  hath  bereft  us,  and  weep* with  those  that  weep 
in  the  bitterness  of  their  affliction,  let  us  endeavour  to 
derive  from  this  solemn  event  those  lessons  of  in- 
struction which  it  so  eloquently  teaches. 

I.  This  death  teaches  us  the  awe- inspiring  truth  of 
God's  inscrutable  sovereignty.  Nothing  could  more 
strikingly  illustrate  the  fact,  that  His  thoughts  are 
not  as  our  "thoughts,  nor  his  ways  as  our  ways." 
Had  a  council  of  the  most  disinterested,  wise,  bene- 
volent individuals  of  our  race  been  called  to  delibe- 
rate and  decide  on  the  destiny  of  our  departed  sister, 
they  w^ould  have  decided  far  differently  from  what 
God  has  done.  Such  a  council  could  have  urged 
numerous  reasons  against  the  premature  death  of  this 
saint.  The  early  period  of  her  life,  with  the  dew 
of  her  youth  fresh  upon  her — the  new  and  e.ndeared 
relations  which  she  sustained — the  space  which  she 
filled  in  a  fond  husband's  affections — the  essential  aid 
that  her  deep  and  devoted  piety,  might  render  to 
him  in  the  prosecution  of  his  holy  calling  as  a  minis- 
ter of  the  gospel — the  comfort  she  might  minister  to 
him  under  all  the  crushing  responsibilities  of  the  sa- 
cred office,  and  all  the  severe,  though  often  hidden, 
sorrows  and  trials  which  he  must  endure — the  wide 
sphere  of  usefulness,  that  her  station  and  connexion 
with  the  church  of  Christ  would  enable  her  to  fill — 
the  benevolent  plans  she  had  formed,  and  the  holy 
hopes  and  purposes  she  cherished — all  these  could 
have  been  pleaded  in  favour  of  her  continuance  on 
earth.     And  yet  the  great  God  saw  all  these  reasons 


334  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF 

and  others  besides  in  all  their  force ;  but  for  reasons 
infinitely  higher  and  better,  determined  at  this  time 
to  call  her  hence.  The  only  account  we  can  give  of 
his  dealings  in  this  case  is,  to  use  the  language  of  the 
blessed  Redeemer,  and  say — "Even  so,  Father,  for 
so  it  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight."  "  Darkness  is 
round  about  him,"  in  thisdispensation — <^  his  pavilion 
is  dark  waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  sky."  VMiat 
be  does  in  this  case,  we  ^«  know  not  now,  but  we  shall 
know  hereafter."  "Justice  and  judgment  are  the 
habitation  of  his  throne."  High  above  the  clouds 
that  encompass  and  conceal  the  reasons  of  his  con- 
duct to  man,  shines  the  resplendent  attribute  of  his 
adorable  sovereignty.  It  is  too  bright  for  mortal 
gaze.  We  veil  our  faces  and  bow  in  humble  sub- 
mission and  awe,  as  we  witness  its  exhibition  in  ap- 
portioning the  terrestrial  allotments  of  our  race. 

II.  This  death  teaches  us  most  impressively  the 
uncertainty  which  ever  besets  all  the  best  joys  and  bright- 
est hopes  of  earth.  The  joys  of  the  domestic  state — 
the  happiness  resulting  from  the  blending  of  truly 
congenial,  Christian  kindred  spirits,  knit  together  in 
wedded  love,  and  tasking  their  powers  each  in  turn, 
to  serve  the  other  in  all  the  sweet  assiduities  of  a 
daily  and  growing  affection — the  hopes  that  spring 
up  in  such  hearts,  and  bound  onward  along  the  green 
and  sunny  vista  of  future  years,  are  the  best  joys  and 
the  brightest  hopes  which  belong  to  this  fallen  world. 
Indeed,  they  recall  the  associations  of  Eden,  and  seem 
as  the  remaining  tints  of  that  faded  loveliness,  which 
bloomed  there  before  the  fall.  In  these  joys  and 
hopes,  but  a  few  days  since  our  departed  sister  and 
her  surviving,  but  now  solitary  and  sorrowing,  hus- 


MRS.  CATHERINE  B.  PATTON.  335 

band  mutually  participated  ;  their  home  as  hnppy, 
their  hearts  as  glad,  and  theii'  prospects  as  hri2;ht 
as  are  any  of  ours  at  present.  But  what  a  spell-like 
change  has  come  over  them! 

How  suddenly  has  the  silver  cord  that  hound  tliem 
to  all  these  joys  and  hopes  been  loosed,  and  the 
golden  bowl,  filled  with  all  that  could  make  domestic 
life  happy,  been  broken  !  The  charm  has  vanished 
like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision,  fled  as  a  morning 
dream.  What  could  illustrate  more  forcibly  the  un- 
certainty attending  the  possession  of  the  best  that 
earth  can  offer  to  the  cravings  of  our  nature  after 
happiness. 

"What  are  our  joys  but  dreanisl  and  what  our  hopes, 
But  goodly  shadows  in  the  summer  cloud? 
There's  not  a  wind  that  Wows,  but  bears  with  it 
Some  rain-bow  promise:  Not  a  moment  flies 
But  puts  its  sickle  in  the  fields  of  life, 
And  reaps  its  thousands  with  their  joys  and  cares." 

'  III.  This  solemn  providence  7'ebukes  fhe/olli/  a?id 
presumption  of  those  ivlio  in  early  life  calculate 
confidently  on  length  of  days  and  unclouded  pros- 
perity. A  love  of  prolonged  existence  is  an  instinct 
of  our  common  nature.  And  the  desire  of  life,  with- 
in certain  limits,  is  lawful.  It  is  not  wonderful  that 
this  desire  should  exist  in  great  strength,  and,  like 
all  our  other  desires  influenced  by  our  depravity, 
should  become  perverted.  The  longing  for  perpe- 
tuated life  is  the  natural  result  of  an  immortal  principle. 
The  soul  is  deathless  in  its  very  nature — it  was  made 
for  immortality,  and  the  higher  and  more  refined 
principles  of  its  constitution  are  constantly  impelling 
it  onward    in  boundless  hopes    and    infinite  aspira- 


336  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF 

tions.  But  in  face  of  God's  explicit  declarations,  and 
of  all  his  providences  that  teach  the  shortness  and 
uncertainty  of  life,  the  young  have  a  presumptuous 
calculation  on  long  years  to  come,  which  leads  them 
to  a  perilous  procrastination  in  the  work  of  securing 
their  eternal  interest,  and  lays  the  foundation  for 
hopes  that  will  be  wrecked  and  expectations  that 
will  be  blasted,  amidst  the  bitterest  disappointments. 
Who  had  a  better  right  than  our  deceased  sister  to 
expect  to  "live  many  days,  and  see  good  in  them 
all?"  Reconciled  to  her  God,  and  devoted  to  his 
service — having  always  enjoyed  uninterrupted  health 
— settled  in  life  with  ample  means  of  its  comforts, 
and  filling  a  most  important  sphere  of  usefulness, 
young,  happy,  loving  and  being  loved  and  respected 
by  all  who  knew  her — in  the  morning  sunshine  of 
domestic  bliss,  before  a  passing  cloud  had  cast  a  sha- 
dow over  her  bright  allotment,  yet  it  pleased  God  to 
call  her  hence,  and  to  translate  her,  as  we  hope,  to  a 
holier,  happier  home  in  the  skies.  If  she  has  thus  in 
a  moment  disappeared  from  earth,  who  here  to-day 
dare  confidently  calculate  on  long  years  to  come  ? 

"What  bolder  thought  in  human  hearts  can  rise, 
Than  man's  presumption  on  to-morrow ! 
Where  is  to-morrow  1     In  another  world! 
To  numbers  this  is  certain.    The  reverse 
Is  sure  to  none." 

IV.  This  sorrowful  event  teaches  us  all  the  impor- 
tance of  he'mg  prepared  for  sudden  death. 

Man's  presumptuous  calculations  on  the  future, 
extend  not  only  to  the  length  of  time  which  he  ex- 
pects to  live,  but  to  the  circumstances  in  which  he 
expects  to  die.     Let  those  who  are  deferring  repen- 


MRS.  CATHERINE  B.  PATTOX.  337 

tance  and  faith,  obedience  and  submission  to  the  Sa- 
viour, and  all  that  is  necessary  to  secure  their  peace 
with  God,  examine  themselves,  and  see  whether  they 
are  not  indulging  the  fallacious  and  criminal  expec- 
tation that  they  shall  have  ample  notice  of  the  ap- 
proach of  death.  When  you  permit  yourselves  to 
think  on  this  subject  at  all,  do  you  not  vaguely  pic- 
ture to  yourselves  a  gradual  decline  of  your  health,  pre- 
monishing  you  of  the  possibility  that  your  race  may 
be  nearly  run?  You  then  think  of  the  sick  cham- 
ber, of  prolonged  illness  weaning  you  from  the  world 
and  directing  your  minds  to  serious  things.  You 
anticipate  being  gently  and  gradually  led  down  to 
the  banks  of  Jordan.  You  expect  the  visits  and  the 
prayers  of  your  pastor  and  pious  friends,  till  at 
length  death  will  have  become  so  familiar  to  your 
thoughts,  and  5^ou  will  be  so  well  prepared  for  it, 
that  its  terrors  and  its  sting  will  be  gone.  Now  in 
order  to  be  convicted  of  the  folly  and  the  guilt  of 
such  calculations,  you  have  only  to  look  at  this  in- 
stance of  death  before  you.  Where  was  the  warning 
in  the  case  of  our  beloved  departed  sister?  But  a 
few  days  ago,  who  had  better,  brighter  prospects  of 
life,  or  more  reason  to  anticipate  that  when  death  did 
come,  there  would  be  sufficient  warning  of  its  ap- 
proach ?  And  yet  its  cold  hand  was  upon  her  before 
her  anxious,  afiectionate  relatives  and  friends  could 
realize  that  the  great  destroyer  had  come. 

Ah!  how  greatly  wise  in  her,  not  to  put  off  a 
careful  preparation  for  it  through  the  deceptive  expec- 
tation that  death  would  linger  so  long  with  slow  and 
measured  tread  before  it  entered,  that  she  would  have 
ample  time  to  prepare  for  its  arrival.  My  dear 
2.9 


338  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF 

hearers,  "be  ye  also  ready" — ready  for  sudden  death. 
At  present  God  is  warning  this  community  on  this 
subject  in  trumpet  tones.  I  beseech  you  then,  by 
all  the  impressive  solemnitiesofthis  funeral  scene,  that 
each  one  of  you  be  ready,  so  that  when 

"  Thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan,  that  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm,  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 
Thou  go  not  like  the  quarry  slave  at  night 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon;  but  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 

V.  The  death  of  our  dear  sister  teaches  us  Me  irans- 
cendant  excellence  of  the  religion  of  Christ  in  its 
power  to  raise  the  soul  above  the  terror  of  disso- 
lution and  to  fill  it  with  a  holy  peace  in  the  parting 
hour.  \\\  the  remarks  that  I  am  about  to  make  it  is 
not  my  design  to  eulogize  the  dead  merely  for  the 
gratification  of  survivers. 

Those  who  knew  the  meek  and  quiet  spirit — the 
modest  and  retiring  piety  of  the  loved  and  departed 
one  whose  remains  are  now  before  us,  cannot  but  be 
aware  that  if  she  had  been  permitted  to  express  a 
wish  in  reference  to  this  service,  she  would  have  for. 
bidden  mere  eulogy.  Besides,  she  is  now  far,  far 
beyond  the  breath  of  human  praise  or  blame,  and  if 
her  sainted  spirit  has  any  solicitude  about  this  scene, 
it  is  that  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  may  be 
magnified  by  it.  In  adverting,  then,  to  her  Christian 
life,  and  her  last  exercises  and  triumphant  death,  I 
merely  wish  to  exalt  that  sovereign  grace  of  God 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  which  gave  her  the 
victory. 


MRS.  CATHERINE  B.  PATTON.  339 

Ten  years  ago  our  deceased  sister  united  with  the 
first  Presbyterian  Church  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  then 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  William  T.  Ha- 
milton. An  appeal  made  by  him  to  her  in  a  con- 
versation respecting  the  death  of  her  dear,  sainted 
mother,  was  the  means  of  arresting  her  attention  and 
leading  her  to  the  Saviour.  Those  who  knew  her 
best  can  testify  that  she  has  ever  since  lived  as  a 
devoted  Christian.  Her  piety  was  unobtrusive,  un- 
ostentatious, every  where  consistent,  firm,  humble. 
Slie  loved  the  place  of  social  prayer — the  Sunday 
school — the  work  of  tract  distribution — and  devoted 
much  of  her  time  to  these  and  other  Christian 
efforts.  She  was  specially  attentive  to  the  duties  of 
the  closet.  It  was  there  that  the  secret  of  the  Lord 
was  with  her.  In  her  last  sickness  the  grace  of  pa- 
tience was  strikingly  exhibited  by  her,  and  yet  such 
was  the  peculiar  tenderness  of  her  conscience  on 
this  point  that  she  often  asked  her  husband  if  he 
thought  she  was  sufficiently  patient.  When  she 
felt  that  the  hand  of  death  was  upon  her,  and  that 
she  would  soon  have  to  leave  her  beloved  partner, 
she  remained  as  collected  and  calm  as  thougli  no 
struggle  of  the  final  parting  awaited  her.  She  con- 
versed freely  with  her  husband  respecting  her  feel- 
ings and  prospects  in  this  trying  crisis.  She  remarked 
very  tenderly  that  she  had  expected  to  1  ive  a  1  ittle  longer 
with  him,  and  still  had  a  desire  to  do  so;  but  that  if 
the  Lord  had  determined  otherwise,  she  \^^^s perfect- 
ly satisfied.  She,  said  that  she  had  made  her  peace 
with  God,  and  felt  a  cheerful  willingness  to  commit 
herself  without  reserve  into  his  hands.  She  expressed 
confidence  in  the  blood  of  Christ  only  as  the  ground 


840  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF 

cf  her  hope,  and  said  to  that  she  looked  for  cleansing, 
and  that  though  she  felt  herself  to  be  a  sinner,  and 
to  have  been  unfaithful  as  a  Christian,  yet  in  view  of 
the  mercy  and  the  promises  of  God,  and  the  love  he 
had  shown  her,  she  felt  an  unwavering  confidence 
that  he  would  take  her  to  himself.  Her  husband 
asked  her  if  in  that  hour  of  trial,  with  death  appa- 
rently so  near,  the  Saviour  really  seemed  precious  to 
her.  She  replied  with  emphasis — "  Yes,  he  does.^^ 
She  then  conversed  for  some  time  on  the  subject  of 
dying — of  heaven — of  their  prospects  of  meeting  in 
that  better  world,  and  of  spending  a  blessed  eternity 
together.  She  spoke  of  the  short  time  that  God  had 
permitted  them  to  enjoy  each  other's  society,  and 
yet  v\ith  how  much  happiness  he  had  crowned  their 
brief  and  transient  wedded  existence.  She  urged 
her  husband  to  be  holy  and  faithful  in  the  ministry, 
and  to  make  it  his  constant  effort  to  bring  up  his 
children  for  God.  She  calmly  spoke  of  some  domes- 
tic arrangements  which  she  wished  to  be  made — 
left  messages  which  she  desired  her  husband  to  de- 
liver to  a  number  of  friends  whom  she  named — a 
special  message  to  the  members  of  this  church,  and 
to  her  class  in  Sabbath  school.  Her  husband  then 
united  with  her  in  prayer,  and  during  all  this  affect- 
ing scene  it  was  obvious  that  the  prospect  of  death, 
though  unanticipated  but  a  short  time  before,  pro- 
duced neither  surprise  nor  terror  in  her  mind,  not- 
withstanding she  w^as  deeply  sensible  of  its  solemni- 
ties and  results.  On  Friday  morning  last  she  asked 
her  husband  if  the  physicians  had  given  it  as  their 
decided  opinion  that  she  could  not  recover.  He 
replied  he  did  not  know,  but  that  it  was  evident  to 


MRS.  CATHERINE  B.  PATTON.  341 

him  that  she  could  not.  She  made  this  inquiry 
through  no  particular  eagerness  to  catch  at  the  hope 
of  life,  but  simply  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  as 
nearly  as  possible  when  the  work  of  death  would 
begin  that  before  her  strength  should  fiiil  she  might 
bid  her  friends  a  formal,  final  farewell.  Soon  after 
this  she  called  all  her  relations  and  friends  around 
her,  kissed  them  and  added  a  few  words  of  suitable 
advice  to  each,  and  then  peacefully  prepared,  as  she 
expressed  it,  to  go  away  to  her  "  new,  eternal  home  !" 

From  this  brief  narrative  who  can  doubt  of  the 
unseen  visits  of  the  Divine  Comforter  to  her  parting 
spirit?  Who  can  doubt  the  soothing  and  sustaining 
power  of  the  religion  of  Christ  in  the  troubled  mo- 
ments of  death?  What  a  holy  calm  was  hers 
amidst  all  that  is  naturally  agitating  in  dissolution! 
Whatasublime  triumph — what  an  eloquent  testimony 
to  the  victory  which  redeeming  grace  gives  us  over 
the  last  enemy  of  our  mortal  nature!  Behold  this 
delicate,  timid  female,  whom  the  rustling  of  a  leaf 
would  once  have  made  to  tremble.  See  her  with 
all  the  sweet  sensibilities  and  warm  affections  of  the 
woman,  the  daughter,  the  sister,  the  wife,  the  mother, 
patient,  calm,  victorious,  amidst  the  wreck  of  life 
in  all  these  endearing  relations!  With  one  hand 
unfaltering  she  deliberately  looses  one  by  one  the 
numerous,  tender  ties  that  bind  her  to  friends  on  earth, 
'and  with  the  other  hand  she  takes  hold  on  the  skies, 
and  triumphantly  exclaims,  "0!  death,  where  is  thy 
Sling?    0!  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?" 

I  may  not  close  these  remarks  without  addressing  a 
few  words  to  those  more  immediately  concerned  in 
this  sadly  bereaving  dispensation.  I  need  not  make 
29* 


342  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF 

any  protracted  remarks  to  this  afflicted  church.  The 
solemn,  dying  message  of  your  pastor's  wife  will 
shortly  be  delivered  to  you  in  the  melancholy  elo- 
quence of  his  broken  heart.  As  a  church  God 
seems  to  have  compassed  you  in  the  infancy  of  your 
existence  with  repeated  affliction.  This  is  the  se- 
cond painful  visitation  of  the  same  kind  that  has 
overtaken  you  in  your  brief  history.  Jehovah  has 
a  meaning  in  these  repeated  strokes  of  his  bereaving 
rod.  In  this  day  of  adversity  you  are  called. upon  to 
consider  your  ways,  and  to  turn  unto  Him  who  smi- 
teth,  and  seek  the  Lord  of  hosts.  God  has  made  this 
second  appeal  to  your  hearts  that  you  may  gather 
round  your  stricken,  bleeding  pastor  with  a  holier 
Christian  sympathy — may  comfort  him  with  the 
kind  assiduities  of  that  love  which  you  owe  him  "  for 
his  work's  sake" — may  hold  up  his  hands  by  your 
prayers — console  him  by  "walking  in  the  truth" — 
and  be  the  means  of  giving  success  to  his  ministry 
by  your  prompt,  efficient,  cheerful,  persevering  co- 
operation. The  best  relief  that  his  bereaved  and 
sorrowing  heart  can  now  obtain  will  be  in  seeing  the 
pleasure  of  the  Lord  prospering  in  his  hand — in 
seeing  3/oz^  growing  in  grace,  built  up  in  the  faith, 
^^  walking  in  love  as  dear  children,"  and  in  wit- 
nessing souls  won  to  Christ  by  your  and  his  united 
instrumentality.  You  ought  not  to  despise  these 
chastenings  of  the  Lord.  You  ought  to  be  a  holy, 
devoted  church.  God  has  appealed  to  you  before, 
and  he  appeals  to  you  to-day  from  the  grave  and 
eternity.  "Gird  up  the  loins  of  your  minds,  and  be 
sober."  Seek  consolation  for  yourselves  and  for 
your  bereaved  pastor  in  God  alone.     Love  your  dear 


MRS.  CATHERINE  B.  PATTON.  343 

pastor  the  more  now  that  he  is  stricken  and  smitten 
of  God,  and  be  at  peace  among  yourselves.  Let  the 
sisters  of  this  church  feel  their  individual  responsibi- 
lity and  dependence  the  more  since  God  has  taken 
away  their  head,  and  let  them  imitate  her  example 
as  she  imitated  her  Lord's.  And  let  all  this  church 
feel  the  solemn  call  thus  made  on  them  to  prepare 
to  meet  their  God. 

And  what  shall  I  say  to  the  bereaved  afflicted 
family  that  has  lost  another  of  its  few  surviving 
members?  Human  sympathies  and  human  language 
can  afford  you  no  adequate  consolation.  On  this 
mournful  occasion  let  me  not  multiply  vain  words 
to  you.  To  God  and  to  the  word  of  his  grace 
we  commend  you.  "He  hath  smitten,  and  he  will 
bind  up;  he  hath  wounded,  and  he  will  heal.'' 
While  your  hearts  feel  the  blank  that  has  been 
made  in  their  affections,  and  your  eyes  rest  on  the 
darkness  of  the  grave  which  conceals  the  mortal 
part  of  a  beloved  daughter  and  sister,  then  think  of 
all  the  mournfully  sweet  associations,  of  the  holy 
calm  and  the  sacred  triumph  of  her  dying  hour. 
"  You  sorrow  not  as  those  who  have  no  hope." 
Around  her  dying  couch  was  a  halo  that  mitigated 
the  gloom  and  gilded  the  shadow  of  death  itself.  It 
was  '^  the  candle  of  the  Lord^^  lighted  up  and 
shining  after  the  sunset  of  the  tomb,  to  point  your 
peaceful  anticipations  to  that  resurrection  morn  when 
the  loved  and  lost  here  will  be  restored,  and  you 
shall  meet  and  be  a  family  in  heaven  to  part  no 
more  for  ever! 

And,  finally,  what  can  be  said  to  you,  my  dear 
brother,  so  suddenly  bereaved  of  the  wife  of  your 


344  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF 

youth!     That  you  have  the  tender  and  deep  sym- 
pathy of  your  ministerial  brethren,  of  your  church 
and  of  the  Christian  community,  you   know.     We 
weep  with  you  to-day;  our  hearts   bleed   for  you 
under  this  severely  trying  dispensation.     It  would 
be  but  the  natural  utterance  of  your  grief,  were  you 
to  say  with   anguished  emphasis — ''  I  am  the  man 
that  has  seen  affliction   by  the  rod  of  his  wrath." 
"  He  hath  led  me  and  brought  me  into  darkness,  but 
not  into   light.'^     My  dear  brother,  God   seems   to 
have  chosen  you  to  the  ministry  "  in  the  furnace  of 
affliction;"  but  I  trust  there  is  one  like  unto  the  Son 
of  man  walking  with  you  to-day  in  the  midst  of  the 
flanies,  to  prevent  them  from  consuming  you.    These 
reiterated  strokes  pierce  the  heart  with  a  poignancy 
of  grief  not  easily  borne.     But,  my  dear  brother,  I 
trust  you  will  not  despise  these  chastenings  of  the 
Lord,  nor  faint  when  you  are  rebuked  of  him.     Ex- 
ercise still  an  unwavering  trust  in  God,  and  he  will 
bring  you  out  of  these  trials  as  gold  that  is  purified 
in  the  fire.     It  does  seem,  as  though  he  has  deter- 
mined that  you  shall  be  a  holy  and  devoted  minister 
of  the  gospel,  if  breaking  the  dearest  ties  that  bind 
you   to  earth   and   blasting  its  best  joys  will   make 
you   so.     Let  your   object    then   be    to   gather  the 
peaceable   fruits   of  righteousness   abundantly   from 
this  fearful  harvest  of  your  wo.     Never  forget  the 
solemn  counsel  given  to  you  by  the  lingering  dying 
love  of  your  wife.    Live  near  to  Christ,  and  be  more 
intimate  in  your  communion  with  him  who  w^ept  at 
the  grave  of  Lazarus,  and  who  can  fully  sympathize 
with  you  in  your  present  sorrows.     Strive  to  preach 
Christ  more   clearly   to   your   charge,   and    to    live 


MRS.  CATHERINE  B.  PATTON.  345 

Christ  more  unequivocally  in  every  walk  of  life. 
From  those  lonely  hours  of  musing  anguish  over 
your  loss  which  you  will  be  tempted  to  spend,  seek 
relief  in  a  deeper  devotion  to  God  and  a  greater 
activity  in  your  sacred  calling.  God  has  taught  you 
the  uncertainty,  the  utter  worthlessness  of  all  that 
earth  can  offer  to  the  heart  and  hopes  of  man.  You 
may  now  preach  on  this  subject  as  you  have  never 
heretofore  done,  and  bear  a  powerful  testimony 
against  devotion  to  the  present  world.  Though 
God  has  bereft  you  and  made  earth  a  waste  and  dreary 
place  to  you,  at  the  same  time  has  he  not  greatly 
endeared  heaven  to  your  affections?  He  has  placed 
bright  lures  there  to  win  37our  thoughts,  and  hopes, 
and  fond  aspirings  thither.  Spirits  of  the  just  made 
perfect  are  there  with  whom  you  have  been  united 
here  in  the  most  endeared  relations,  whom  you 
loved  and  with  whom  you  lived  as  the  heirs  of  the 
grace  of  life.  Oh!  can  you  not  preach  of  heaven, 
live  for  heaven,  and  lead  the  way  to  it  as  you  never 
did  before?  My  dear  brother,  give  your  wounded 
bleeding  heart  anew  this  day  to  God;  he  will  heal 
it,  and  consecrate  you  afresh  even  by  this  baptism 
of  your  sorrows,  to  the  blessed  work  of  your  holy 
calling.  Time  is  short.  That  heart  will  not  be 
rent  much  oftener.  God  can  comfort  you  the  little 
while  you  remain  in  a  world  now  so  imbiltered  to 
you.  He  can  make  you  useful,  and  teach  you  to 
comfort  others  with  the  consolation  wherewith  he 
has  comforted  you,  till  the  hour  of  your  sweet  release 
from  all  terrestrial  trouble  shall  come — till 

"  Life's  duties  done,  as  sinks  the  day, 
Light  from  its  load,  the  spirit  flies, 


346    ADDRESS  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF  MRS.   C.  B.  PATTOX, 

While  heaven  and  earth  combine  to  say 
How  blest  the  righteous,  when  he  dies." 

Beyond  that  bourn  reunion  with  the  loved  from 
whom  death  has  divided  you  here,  perfection  in 
holiness,  the  joys  of  the  Lord  and  the  deep  and  un- 
ending repose  of  heaven  will  amply  compensate  for 
all  the  sorrows  and  conflicts  of  time. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  THE  SLAVE  TRADE.  347 


IV. 


A  PERMANENT  REMEDY  FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE 
TRADE.^ 

It  is  said  to  be  "a  calamitous  distinction,  but  a  sub- 
lime one,"  for  man  to  be  placed  on  the  same  arena 
where  moral  evil  is  at  work,  in  the  dire  hostility 
of  its  power  to  every  thing  good,  and  for  him  to  be 
arrayed  in  resolute  antagonism  to  its  progress  and 
its  sway.  This  distinction  belongs  to  Christian  man 
exclusively;  ours  being  the  only  world,  as  far  as  we 
know,  in  a  probationary  state,  and  with  a  moral 
econom}^  where  the  forces  of  good  and  evil  are  in 
conflict,  and  alternate  success  and  defeat  attending 
the  one  and  the  other  in  the  career  of  their  energies 
towards  the  final  catastrophe.  This  planet  which 
we  inhabit  is,  perhaps,  the  last  battle  field  in  the 
empire  of  God  where  the  parallel  collision  of  great 
antagonist  principles  are  working  out  the  stupendous 
problems  of  the  divine  government,  and  displaying 

*  This  lecture  is  one  of  a  series  which  the  author  wrote  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  African  slave  trade,  and  delivered  to  popular  assemblies  while 
Secretary  of  the  New  York  State  Colonization  Society.  It  was  intended 
to  follow  immediately  one  on  the  horrors  of  the  slave  trade  as  it  now 
exists.  When  not  preceded  by  the  one  alluded  to,  it  is  robbed  of  a  part 
of  the  interest  it  would  excite.  But  the  lecture  on  the  horrors  of  the 
slave  trade,  the  author  has  thought  best  to  omit  here  in  consequence  of 
the  tragic  and  revolting  details  which  it  contains,  and  which  were  neces- 
sary to  do  justice  to  the  subject  of  which  it  treats. 


348  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

that  glorious  prerogative  of  Deity  which  educes  order 
from  confusion,  light  from  darkness^  and  makes  ini- 
quity the  foil  to  enhance  the  eternal  splendours  of 
vindicated,  triumphant  righteousness.  It  would  not 
be  wonderful  if  in  the  heat  of  so  great  a  conflict  man 
in  his  limited  capacities,  and  himself  suffering  the 
effects  of  a  sad  moral  overthrow,  should  sometimes 
mistake  the  best  means  of  coping  successfully  with 
the  giant  foe.  That  particular  instrumentality  which 
eventually  proves  effective  in  the  extirpation  of  an)^ 
of  the  great  evils  of  the  world,  is  at  first  but  vaguely 
comprehended  and  little  understood.  What  is  popu- 
larly termed  accident  often  leads  not  only  to  discove- 
ries in  science,  but  to  the  knowledge  of  that  combi- 
nation of  forces  or  those  moral  appliances  by  which 
the  gigantic  evils  that  curse  humanity  are  to  be  sub- 
verted and  ultimately  annihilated.  This  is  true  in 
reference  to  the  means  first  contemplated  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  African  slave  trade.  It  were  not  to 
be  supposed  that  with  the  enlightened  philanthropy 
and  active  Christian  benevolence  which  characterized 
Great  Britain  and  America  at  the  commencement  of 
the  present  century,  the  slave  trade  could  escape  the 
notice  of  these  two  nations,  or  its  enormities  fail  to 
awaken  a  deep  and  painful  solicitude  for  its  suppres- 
sion. As  early  as  1791  the  British  Parliament 
began  to  investigate  the  subject,  collect  evidence 
and  make  preparations  for  ulterior  action.  They  at 
length  passed  an  act  prohibiting  the  importation  of 
slaves  into  any  of  their  West  India  possessions,  after 
the  first  of  March,  ISOS.  Before  this  dale  the  Go- 
vernment of  the  United  States  prohibited  the  impor- 
tation of  slaves  into  this  country,  and  declared  the 


•        FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  349 

slave  trade  to  be  piracy  and  punishable  by  death. 
England  then  made  an  effort  to  bring  Spain  to  adopt 
a  similar  policy,  and  secured  that  power  nominally 
in  favour  of  the  abolition  of  this  odious  traffic.  It 
was  now  supposed  that  the  greatand  decisive  blow  was 
struck,  and  that  the  day  spring  of  Africa's  redemp- 
tion had  visited  her.  But  on  the  part  of  the  savage 
pagans  of  Africa,  the  thirst  for  articles  of  European 
manufacture  and  for  luxuries,  and  the  more  brutal 
thirst  for  gain  on  the  part  of  corrupt  nominal  Chris- 
tians mocked  the  puny  force  of  mere  legislation  and 
parchment  resolutions,  and  showed  their  triumph  in 
the  mortifying  and  melancholy  fact,  that  this  infernal 
merchandise  in  men  had  not  even  received  a  percep- 
tible check  from  these  great  national  movements  for 
its  suppression!  The  gain  of  at  least  ISO  per  cent, 
on  all  the  capital  invested  in  this  now  contraband 
commerce  in  bodies  and  souls,  inspired  a  courage 
that  risked  the  severest  penalties  of  law,  and  plied 
the  trade,  in  no  w^ise  daunted  by  these  stringent  go- 
vernmental enactments  of  nations. 

It  was  soon  found  that  the  traffic  went  on  with  no 
diminution  in  the  number  of  victims,  and  no  abate- 
ment, but  a  vast  increase  of  its  attendant  horrors. 
"Leviathan  was  not  to  be  so  tamed."  Then  was 
suggested  the  expedient  of  armed  squadrons  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  to  cruise  and  cut  off  all  access  of  the 
slave  ships  to  the  shores.  Accordingly  Great  Bri- 
tain and  the  United  States  each  despatched  a  portion 
of  their  naval  force  to  guard  the  ports  and  harbours 
of  the  western  coast  from  all  ingress  and  egress  of 
vessels  suspected  of  being  engaged  in  this  unlawful 
and  inhuman  adventure.  And  now  with  the  gallant 
30 


350  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

war  ships  of  the  two  most  powerful  nations  on  earth, 
and  the  British  Lion  and  the  American  Eagle  floating 
on  the  flags  at  the  mast-head,  and  the  thunder  of  their 
cannon  reverberating  along  the  coast  and  echoing  up 
every  cove  and  river's  mouth  of  the  territory,  is  not 
Africa  safe  from  the  approach  of  the  slaver  ?  Will  the 
keenest  cravings  of  avarice,  or  the  most  infatuated 
lust  for  gold,  tempt  the  monstrous  dealers  in  living 
sinews  and  bones  to  urge  on  their  trade  in  the  face 
of  such  terrors,  and  risk  their  all  amidst  such  perils 
as  these?     Yes,  after  all  this  array  of  naval  arma- 
ments afloat  on  the  African  seas,  and  sustained  as  it 
has  been  for  a  number  of  years  at  an  enormous  ex- 
pense to  both  governments,  the  slave  trade  in  West- 
ern Africa  has  been  nearly  or  quite  as  rife  within 
the  last  five  years  as  at  any  time  during  a  century! 
It  has,  as  yet,  received   no  mortal  wound  from  the 
mouth  of  British    or  American  cannon.     Nay,  its 
terrible  energies  have  not  even  been  crippled  by  all 
this  marine  force  employed  against  it.     Its  bloody 
crest  is  still  erect  and  daring,  despite  the  public  sen- 
timent and  national  legislation  of  Christendom  and 
the  armed  squadrons  of  the  most  powerful  nations 
on  earth  hunting  it  down  on  the  seas.     The  recent 
statistics  of  this  abominable  traffic  show,  that  while  it 
has  been  forced  to  all  the  vigilance,  cunning  and  arts 
of  smuggling,  it  is  nevertheless  now  carrying  off'  as 
many  victims  annually  as  it  did  when  unembarrassed 
by  the  espionage  and  pursuit  of  armed  vessels.     This 
may  seem  incredible,  but  it  is  a  well  authenticated 
fact.     On  a  certain  part  of  the  Western  coast  the 
slave  trade  has  indeed  been  effectually  suppressed, 
but  by  means  entirely  distinct  from  the  direct  in- 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  351 

fliience  of  men  of  war  on  the  seas.  It  seems  to  be 
the  error  of  human  nature  to  trust  to  those  means 
of  most  obvious  and  imposing  power,  and  to  over- 
look those  more  unpretending  and  noiseless  in  their 
operations.  And  yet  in  this  we  violate  the  judg- 
ment which  the  analogy  of  nature  would  teach  us  to 
form.  For  what  is  more  noiseless  and  unimposing 
than  light  kissing  the  very  lips  of  sleeping  infancy  so 
gently  as  not  to  awake  it  from  its  slumbers;  and  yet 
what  material  agent  accomplishes  results  of  such  mag- 
nitude and  moment  in  the  physical  economy  ?  It  is 
not  the  thunder  and  lightning,  the  whirlwind,  and  the 
volcano,  the  deluge  or  the  waterspout,  in  their  terrific 
operations  that  achieve  that  great  aggregate  of  results 
which  makes  the  earth  what  it  is,  stored  with  the 
means  of  existence  and  happiness  to  myriads  of  sen- 
sitive and  intelligent  creatures.  No!  it  is  the  sun- 
shine and  the  gentle  breeze,  the  early  and  the  latter 
rain,  the  unseen  warmth  and  the  silent  dews.  There 
are  some  obvious  reasons  why  a  naval  force,  howe- 
ver powerful  and  imposing,  should  fail  of  effectually 
suppressing  the  slave  trade.  Ships  of  war  can  never 
become  so  numerous  on  the  coast  as  to  form  a  per- 
fect blockade.  Besides,  in  many  places  not  desig- 
nated as  harbours,  the  shore  is  at  once  so  bold  and  so 
calm  as  to  permit  the  light  slave  ship  to  run  in  and 
take  her  living  cargo  and  be  off' on  the  trackless  main 
without  being  seen  by  a  war  cruiser.  But  I  appre- 
hend that  one  of  the  reasons  of  this  failure  of  squad- 
rons to  suppress  the  slave  trade,  is  the  fact,  that  the 
British  government  has  offered  so  high  a  premium  on 
the  head  of  every  recaptured  slave,  and  so  much  per 
ton  on  the  slave  vessel,  that  it  proves  a  powerful 


352  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

temptation  to  the  captain  and  crews  of  the  men  of 
war  to  connive  at  slavers  so  far  as  to  permit  them  to 
go  in  and  freight  their  vessels,  in  order  that  they  may 
capture  them  afterwards  and  realize  this  liberal  go- 
vernmental bounty  on  the  tonnage  of  the  captured 
vessels  and  on  the  number  of  the  slaves  they  con- 
tain. But  the  slave  vessels  being  all  built  for  fast 
sailing,  if  they  can  once  get  their  cargo  of  human 
beings  shipped  and  they  under  way,  in  ninety-nine 
cases  out  of  a  hundred  they  can  then  escape  capture 
by  their  superior  speed. 

The  British  have  another  reason  for  rather  wishing 
to  capture  a  slave  ship  after  she  has  a  full  cargo  on 
board  than  to  prevent  her  from  getting  to  the  coast 
and  shipping  one,  and  that  is,  in  addition  to  the  high 
premium  per  head  on  the  recaptured  slaves  and  on 
the  vessel,  these  recaptured  Africans  are  sent  Xo  the 
British  West  Indies  to  work  the  plantations  as  ap- 
prentices or  hired  labourers,  and  the  government  al- 
lows so  much  per  head  for  every  "such  labourer  in- 
troduced there  from  the  coast  of  Africa.  Now  with 
this  double  bounty  to  be  realized  in  case  of  success 
in  capture  by  the  officers  and  by  every  one  of  the 
crew  of  a  British  man  of  war,  is  it  not  highly  proba- 
ble that  they  will  be  tempted  to  connive  at  the  ship- 
ping of  slaves  for  the  sake  of  the  profits  of  seizing 
them  afterwards?  We  honour  human  nature  as  much 
as  facts  will  permit  us  to  do.  But  it  would  be  an 
extraordinary  stretch  of  generosity  and  charity  to 
suppose  that  this  motive  v/ould  be  wholly  unfelt  by 
the  high-minded  and  honourable  officers  of  her  Ma- 
jesty, Queen  Victoria's,  government.  Our  own  gal- 
lant officers  on  the  African  coast  have  no  such  temp- 


FOR  THE   AFRICAN   SLAVE  TRADE.  353 

tation;  but  are  as  much  interested  to  prevent  a  slave 
ship  from  landing  and  loading  as  to  capture  one  after 
she  has  shipped  a  full  cargo.  And  yet  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  American  squadron  has  not  to  any  extent 
till  very  recently  been  successful  in  seizing  slavers. 
This  is  no  reflection  on  the  courage,  integrity,  or 
fidelity  of  our  excellent  officers.  It  is  the  result  of 
the  intrinsic  difficulties  that  environ  the  case.  By 
a  recent  international  arrangement  of  Great  Britain 
with  France,  the  naval  force  of  the  latter  is  to  be  add- 
ed to  that  already  employed  for  the  suppression  of 
this  horrible  traffic.  But  it  is  doubtful  whether  this 
additional  force  will  give  greater  success  in  reaching 
the  humane  result  contemplated.  An  armada  from 
the  choicest  ships  of  nations  could  not  annihilate  a 
traffic  sustained  by  the  combined  avarice  of  Africa 
herself  and  of  all  her  corrupt  and  greedy  destroyers 
throughout  the  world.  Physical  force  is  not  the 
right  kind  of  instrumentality  to  battle  successfully 
with  those  evils  whose  exciting  causes  are  the  de- 
praved passions  and  appetites  of  intelligent,  immor- 
tal  mind.  And  yet  it  appears  almost  impossible  to 
teach  mankind  this  simple,  and  as  it  would  seem  to 
us,  obvious  truth.  If  the  whole  coast  of  Africa  were 
completely  blockaded  so  that  not  a  slave  should  be 
shipped  for  a  century,  the  slave  trade  would  not  then 
be  annihilated;  for  the  causes  that  give  rise  to  it 
would  still  be  in  existence,  and  on  the  withdrawal  of 
an  armed  force  from  the  seas  w^ould  inevitably  lead 
to  the  renewal  of  the  traffic.  There  is  no  adaptation 
whatever  in  mere  physical  force  to  remove  these 
causes.  And  every  principle  of  sound  philosophy 
assures  us  that  till  the  exciting  causes  are  removed, 
30* 


354  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

the  effects  which  they  naturally  produce  cannot 
cease.  We  want  a  remedy  then  for  this  enormously 
wicked  traffic  that  will  reach  its  origin;  that  will  at 
once  grapple  with  and  destroy  the  causes  that  give  it 
birth  and  sustain  its  being.  Any  thing  short  of  this 
must  ultimately  prove  a  failure.  But  what  shall  this 
remedy  be?  The  most  intelligent  philanthropists 
both  in  the  old  world  and  the  nevv  now  begin  to  an- 
swer— "  the  civilization  and  Christianization  of 
Africa  herself^^ 

No  man  has  made  a  more  laborious  investigation  as 
to  the  best,  the  true  remedy  for  this  overgrown  evil, 
than  Thomas  F.  Buxton,  Esq.,  of  England.  The 
conclusion  at  which  he  arrives,  after  his  protracted 
and  careful  researches  on  this  subject,  he  expresses  in 
the  followino;  languasie:  "With  all  confidence  we 
affirm  that  nothing  permanent  will  be  effected  unless 
we  raise  the  native  niind.^^  Again,  writing  of  Af- 
rica, he  remarks — ^^  we  must  elevate  the  minds  of 
her  people,  and  call  forth  the  capabilities  of  her 
soil.''  One  of  the  most  distinguished  African  tra- 
vellers, after  all  that  Europe  had  then  done  for  the 
suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  remarks, — "  Europe 
therefore  will  have  done  little  for  the  blacks,  if  the 
abolition  of  the  Atlantic  slave  trade  is  not  followed 
up  by  some  wise  and  grand  plan  for  the  civilization 
of  the  continent."  Capt.  Harris,  of  the  British  ser- 
vice, so  extensively  acquainted  with  Africa,  was  com- 
missioned by  his  government  to  investigate  the  mat- 
ter and  report  as  to  the  best  method  of  extinguishing 
the  slave  trade.  The  conclusion  at  which  he  arrived, 
after  all  his  researches  and  enlarged  observations  on 
this  subject,  was,  that  the  slave  trade  could  never  be 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  355 

extinguished  so  long  as  the  savage,  pagan  spirit  of 
Jifrica  herself  was  in  favour  of  it.  His  conclusion 
is  sound  and  strictly  philosophical.  It  rests  on  a 
true  insight  into  the  real  cause  of  the  evil;  a  cause 
not  to  be  reached  by  naval  arnriaments  nor  parliamen- 
tary legislation:  for  though  compulsory  means  may 
restrain  the  act,  it  cannot  eradicate  the  motive.  Were 
the  whole  coast  blockaded,  still  the  "African  will 
not  have  ceased  to  desire  and  vehemently  to  crave 
the  spirits,  the  ammunition,  and  the  articles  of  finery 
and  commerce,  which  Europe  and  America  alone 
can  supply;  and  these  he  can  obtain  by  the  slave 
trade,  and  by  the  slave  trade  only,  while  he  remains 
what  he  is."  Capt.  Harris  has  therefore  very  wisely 
recommended  the  civilization  and  Christianization  of 
Africa  herself,  recommended  a  remedy  for  the  disor- 
dered passions  of  the  native  mind,  and  for  its  savage 
physical  condition,  as  the  true,  efficient  causes  of  this 
disgraceful  and  inhuman  traffic. 

Two  things  then  must  be  done  for  Africa,  if  she 
is  ever  rescued  from  the  ravages  of  a  commerce  in 
her  own  hapless  children,  alike  ruinous  to  her  and  in- 
famous to  the  nations  concerned  in  it.  1.  Mind 
there  must  be  elevated,  expanded  and  disciplined  till 
it  can  comprehend  the  true  economy  of  national 
wealth,  and  take  advantage  of  those  laws  of  nature 
which  are  subservient  to  its  production.  And  2, 
the  physical  resources  of  the  country  must  be  under- 
stood and  developed,  till  each  African  chief  can  be 
made  to  see  that  for  every  dollar  he  now  receives 
from  the  sale  and  export  of  his  living  subjects,  one 
hundred  dollars  worth  of  produce  either  for  home 
consumption  or  foreign  commerce  can  be  raised  by 
them  if  retained  as  labourers  on  the  soil. 


356  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

But  capabilities  of  mind  and  resources  of  territory 
are  nothing  in  the  estimate  of  ignorant  savages;  and 
while  the  Africans  remain  such,  and  know  no  way 
of  obtaining  the  products  of  civilized  industry  but  by 
the  slave  trade,  that  trade  can  never  be  annihilated 
till  you  exterminate  the  coloured  race.  No.  The 
native  mind  must  be  trained,  equipped,  and  led  forth 
there  to  its  grand  conquest  over  the  laws  and  agen- 
cies of  matter,  and  taught  its  power  to  render  them 
subservient  to  the  purposes  of  man's  existence,  con- 
venience and  comfort,  by  extracting  from  the  soil  and 
gathering  from  the  spontaneous  productions  of  the 
earth  the  legitimate  bounties  which  Providence  be- 
stows on  intelligent  human  industry.  But  can  this 
be  done?  And  if  done  are  the  physical  resources  of 
Africa  such  as  to  furnish  her  inhabitants  ample 
means  not  only  of  subsistence,  but  of  wealth,  wholly 
independent  of  the  ungodly  gain  of  the  slave  trade? 
Both  these  questions  may  without  hesitancy  be  an- 
swered in  the  affirmative.  The  primary  elements 
of  mind  in  Africa  are,  essentially,  what  they  are  in 
similar  circumstances  every  where  else  in  the  world. 
The  powerful  appliances  of  civilization,  science  and 
religion  will  find  susceptibilities  in  the  Jlfrican  in- 
tellect, and,  plied  long  enough,  will  effect  the  same 
evolution  of  mental  capacities,  the  same  inventive 
powers, — the  same  enterprise,  and  will  give  the  same 
general  direction  to  the  deathless  energy  of  mind 
there  as  in  any  other  quarter  of  the  globe.  It  is  a  libel 
on  the  benevolence  of  God,  to  suppose  that  he  has 
created  a  race  of  rational  beings  with  so  stinted 
mental  endowments,  that  with  proper  culture  they 
cannot  be  sufficiently  developed  and  disciplined,  to 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  357 

avail  themselves  of  the  bounteous  means  of  a  happy- 
temporal  existence  within  their  reach,  and  also  to 
rise  to  those  noble  destinies  of  an  immortal  nature, 
for  which  man  was  made.  In  respect  to  the  physi- 
cal resources  of  the  continent  of  Africa,  they  are 
amply  sufficient  to  sustain  twice  the  number  of  her 
present  population  in  a  state  of  advanced  civilization, 
refinement  and  luxury. 

Indeed  Africa  is  inferior  to  no  other  portion  of 
the  globe  in  native  wealth. — The  partial  and  very- 
imperfect  exploration  of  her  mineral  resources  shows 
that  silver,  gold,  copper  and  iron  abound  in  many- 
parts  of  the  country. —  Of  valuable  timber  she  has  an 
inexhaustible  supply,  and  it  is  already  becoming  an 
important  article  of  export. — Dye  woods  are  found 
in  the  greatest  abundance,  yielding  carmine,  crim- 
son, red,  brown,  brilliant  yellow,  and  the  various 
shades  from  yellow  to  orange  and  a  fine  blue. — Af- 
rica is  rich  in  gums.  Copal,  Senegal  mastic,  and 
Sudan  or  Turkey  gum,  can  be  obtained  in  large 
quantities. — Of  nuts,  which  are  beginning  to  form  a 
new  and  important  article  of  trade,  there  are  the 
palm  nut,  the  shea  nut,  the  cola  nut,  the  ground  nut, 
the  castor  nut,  the  nitta  nut,  and  the  cocoa  nut. — The 
palm  tree  grows  in  great  numbers,  and  immense 
quantities  of  the  nuts  are  permitted  to  decay  on  the 
ground  without  being  gathered.  Then  there  are 
valuable  roots  that  grow  with  little  or  no  cultiva- 
tion.— Of  these,  may  be  mentioned  the  manioc,  yams, 
sweet  potatoes,  arrow-root  and  ginger.  —  All  the 
fruits  of  the  tropics  are  there  in  variety  and  profu- 
sion ;  oranges,  lemons,  citrons,  limes,  pine  apples, 
guavas,    tamarinds,   pawpaws,  plantains,    and  bana- 


358  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

nas. — Of  grain,  there  is  rice.  Indian  corn,  Guinea  corn 
or  millet,  and  other  varieties. — There  are  also  mis- 
cellaneous products,  such  as  bees'  wax,  ivory,  Indian 
rubber,  and  in  some  places  horns,  hides,  skins,  tortoise 
shell,  ostrich  feathers,  pearls,  ambergris,  amber,  cot- 
ton, coffee  and  indigo. — Africa  also  contains  every 
species  of  domestic  animal  and  fowl  necessary  for 
convenience  and  food,  and  fisheries  which,  were  they 
under  yankee  enterprise  and  management,  would 
annually  yield  a  revenue  twice  as  great  as  the  whole 
of  her  slave  trade.  But  to  give  a  complete  catalogue 
of  African  products  would  extend  this  lecture  beyond 
reasonable  limits.  A  writer  of  great  accuracy  re- 
marks as  follows:  "With  few  inconsiderable  ex- 
ceptions the  whole  line  of  coast  in  Western  Africa, 
accessible  to  trading  vessels,  presents  immense  tracts 
of  land  of  the  most  fertile  character,  which  only 
require  the  hand  of  industry  and  commercial  enter- 
prise to  turn  them  into  inexhaustible  mines  of 
wealth."  An  individual  who  had  spent  some  time 
in  Western  Africa,  and  become  from  close  and  care- 
ful observation  well  acquainted  with  the  character 
and  capabilities  of  its  soil,  writing  to  the  colonists  of 
Liberia,  remarks:  "The  flat  lands  around  you,  and 
particularly  your  farms,  have  as  good  a  soil  as  can 
be  met  with  in  any  country.  They  will  produce 
two  crops  of  corn,  sweet  potatoes,  and  several  other 
vegetables  in  a  year.  They  will  yield  a  larger  crop 
than  the  best  soil  in  America. — One  acre  of  rich 
land  well  tilled  will  produce  you  three  hundred  dol- 
lars worth  of  indigo.  Half  an  acre  may  be  made  to 
grow  half  a  ton  of  arrow  root.  Four  acres  laid  out  in 
coffee  plants  will,  after  the  third  year,  produce  you  a 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  359 

clear  income  of  two  or  three  hundred  dollars  annual- 
ly. Half  an  acre  of  cotton  tree  will  clothe  your 
whole  family.  One  acre  of  canes  will  make  you  in- 
dependent of  all  the  world  for  the  sugar  you  use  in 
your  family.  One  acre  set  with  fruit  trees  and  well 
attended,  will  furnish  you  the  year  round  with  more 
plantains,  bananas,  oranges,  limes,  guavas,  pawpaws, 
and  pine  apples  than  you  will  ever  gather.  Nine 
months  of  the  year  you  may  grow  fresh  vegetables 
every  month,  and  some  of  you  who  have  lowland 
plantations  may  do  so  throughout  the  year." 

And  now  in  a  country  of  such  vast  physical  re- 
sources, and  so  richly  blest  of  Heaven  with  every 
product  of  a  luxuriant  soil  and  a  genial  climate,  is 
there  any  thing  more  necessary  to  annihilate  her  in- 
human and  infamous  traffic  in  her  own  children,  than 
to  raise  the  native  mind  into  the  daylight  of  civiliza- 
tion where  it  can  see  things  as  they  are,  appreciate 
the  exuberant  bounties  of  Providence  hitherto  over- 
looked, and  be  made  to  understand  the  fact  which 
can  then  be  demonstrated — viz.,  that  the  labour  of 
one  man,  and  that  not  in  tilling  the  earth,  but  in 
merely  gathering  the  spontaneous  production  of  the 
palm  nut  and  the  elephant's  tooth,  can  earn  annually 
a  sum  more  than  twice  as  much  as  he  would  bring, 
were  he  sold  as  a  slave,  and  his  life  and  industry 
thus  annihilated  to  his  own  country  and  transferred 
to  a  foreign  one  for  ever.  Such  an  elevation  of  the 
native  mind  is  beyond  all  doubt  the  true  radical 
remedy  for  the  African  slave  trade.  This  is  the 
conclusion,  I  may  add,  the  settled  conviction,  of  the 
most  enlightened  philanthropists  of  the  world  at  the 
present  day.     All  human  history  shows  that  it  is  mind 


360  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

which  rules  the  destinies  of  nations.  Mind  re- 
instated, enthroned  in  something  of  its  primitive 
sovereignty  and  dignity,  and  invested  with  the  ma- 
jesty of  an  enlightened  conscience  and  high  Christian 
sentiment,  is  and  ever  will  be  the  elected  instrument 
of  Divine  beneficence  for  the  subversion  of  the  pow- 
ers of  darkness,  the  destruction  of  the  overgrown 
schemes  of  wickedness,  and  for  the  prevalence  and 
universal  triumph  of  truth  and  righteousness  in  the 
world.  But  how  is  this  elevation  of  African  mind 
to  be  effected?  How  is  Africa  to  be  civilized?  I 
answer  in  the  general,  by  observing  the  same  great 
laws  of  civilization  that  have  operated  in  civilizing 
any  other  portion  of  the  human  family.  Civilization 
has  its  fixed  laws,  and  if  overlooked  or  violated  in 
any  case,  their  results  cannot  be  realized.  History 
furnishes  no  instance  of  a  barbarous  people  left  to 
themselves,  and  uninfluenced  by  intercourse  with 
others,  ever  becoming  civilized. 

Fallen  human  nature  has  no  inherent  tendency  to 
so  refined  an  issue.  In  some  peculiar  cases  military 
conquest  has  contributed  to  the  civilization  of  the 
conquered.  But  in  no  form  can  war  be  regarded  as 
the  necessary  handmaid  of  civilization.  Commercial 
intercourse,  where  a  country  has  facilities  for  com- 
munication with  the  interior,  has  often  resulted  in 
the  civilization  of  a  people.  But  the  grand  law  of 
civilization  operates  on  the  social  and  political  con- 
dition of  a  people,  through  the  medium  of  model 
COMMUNITIES  planted  amongst  them,  and  rendered 
permanent  in  their  influence  on  the  imitative  prin- 
ciple and  emulation  of  the  barbarous  tribes.  This  is 
the  law  of  civilization  which  we  must  observe  in  re- 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  361 

ference  to  Africa.  The  hope  of  benefitino;  her  in  this 
respect  by  military  conquest  is  out  of  the  question; 
and  commercial  intercourse,  heretofore,  has  been  far 
from  exerting  a  civilizing  influence  on  her  people. 
Nor  can  such  intercourse  be  expected  materially  to 
benefit  a  population,  whose  country  has  no  great 
highways,  few  navigable  rivers,  and,  therefore,  no 
f^icilities  for  communication  with  the  interior.  We 
must  have  the  model  communities  planted  and  sustained 
there.  The  germ  must  be  rooted  in  her  own  soil, 
and  rear  its  trunk,  put  forth  its  leaves,  its  flowers,  and 
its  first  fruits  before  the  eyes  of  the  savage  native 
tribes.  This  is  no  new  theory  of  African  civilization. 
Near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  Capt.  Beaver,  a 
benevolent  Englishman,  attempted  a  model  settle- 
ment of  civilization  in  Africa;  but  the  climate  soon 
disclosed  to  him  and  to  his  company  the  melan- 
choly fact,  so  fearfully  demonstrated  since,  that  the 
white  man^s  life  must  be  the  inevitable  forfeit  of  all 
such  attempts!  Who  then  are  to  form  the  constitu- 
ency of  these  model  communities  indispensable  to  pro- 
mote that  civilization,  which  alone  can  effectually 
suppress  the  slave  trade  of  Africa?  Experience  and 
observation  have  decided  that  it  is  to  be  her  own  ex- 
iled, but  now  civilized.  Christianized  sons,  whose 
physical  structure  and  temperament  have  never  been 
so  changed  by  a  different  locality,  as  to  unfit  them 
to  return  with  safety,  and  live  in  their  original  cli- 
mate and  country. 

Burkhardt,  the   most  distinguished  of  travellers 

in  Africa,  remarks  that  there  is  no  fairer  prospect 

for  her  civilization,  "  than  the  education  of  the  sons 

of  Africa  in  their  own  country  and  by  their  own 

31 


362  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

countrymen,  previously  educated  by  Europeans.'^ 
If  in  forming  these  model  settlements  of  civilization 
in  Africa,  there  were  no  risk  of  life  to  vvliite  men, 
yet  on  every  principle  of  social  philosophy,  it  would 
be  infinitely  preferable  to  have  them  composed  of 
educated,  Christian,  coloured  men.  The  associations 
which  the  native  tribes  have  connected  with  white 
men  as  a  privileged  and  superior  race,  would  very 
naturally  cause  them  to  despair  of  successfully  imi- 
tating such  a  race  in  the  arts  and  usages  of  civilized 
life;  whilst  the  identity  of  skin  and  national  lineage 
with  the  coloured  community  would  have  precisely 
a  contrary  tendency,  and  would  demonstrate  to  them, 
by  a  living  example,  the  improvement  and  elevation 
of  which  the  negro  race  is  capable. 

The  case  then  may  be  stated  thus:  the  true,  and 
only  effectual  remedy  for  the  horrible  slave  trade 
is  the  civilization  and  Christianization  of  the  inha- 
bitants of  Africa  herself.  To  efifect  this  we  must 
have  model  communities  of  civilized,  Christian  men 
planted  and  rendered  permanent  there;  and  for  ob- 
vious and  imperative  reasons  the  men  that  compose 
these  communities  must  be  coloured  men,  the  de- 
scendants of  Africans.  Now  where  shall  we  find 
such  men?  The  men  who  alone,  under  God,  can  be 
the  instruments  of  civilizing  and  Christianizing  their 
*' brethren,  their  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh?" 
I  answer,  in  this  country.  And  may  not  prepara- 
tion for  becoming  instruments  of  so  great  blessing 
to  their  fatherland  have  been  one  of  the  ulterior,  be- 
neficent purposes  of  God  in  permitting  the  wicked- 
ness of  man  to  exile  them  and  bring  and  bind  them 
for  a  season  in  servitude  here?     Has  the  work  of 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  363 

establishing  these  model  communities  of  civilization 
in  Africa  been  begun?  It  has,  under  blessed  auspices 
and  brilliant  auguries  of  ultimate  and  triumphant 
success.  By  whom  has  a  scheme  of  so  far-reaching 
and  so  effective  benevolence  been  originated  and  put 
into  execution?  By  those  lofty  and  patriotic  minds 
who  organized  the  Anierican  Colonization  Society. 
Notwithstanding  the  earlier  efforts  of  Great  Britain 
in  the  establishment  of  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone,  I 
am  happy  to  think  that  oiu^  own  country  has  a  fair 
and  equitable  claim  to  the  noble  distinction  of  being 
the  first  to  plant  a  community  in  Africa  that  can  be 
regarded  as  in  all  respects  a  true,  model  settlement 
of  civilization,  republican  liberty  and  Christianity. 
The  following  is  no  exaggerated  representation  of 
what  has  been  achieved  by  this  great  American 
movement. 

"What,  then,  has  colonization  done?  It  has  laid 
the  foundation  of  an  empire  in  the  commonwealth 
of  Liberia.  There  it  is — on  the  coast  of  Africa,  a 
little  north  of  the  equator,  in  the  central  regions  of 
African  barbarism,  and  of  the  slave  trade.  There 
are  four  colonies  and  twelve  Christian  settlements, 
dotting  a  coast  of  about  300  miles,  extending  their 
domain  by  fair  negotiation,  back  into  the  interior 
and  along  the  Atlantic  shore,  the  whole  incorporated 
into  a  federal  republic,  after  the  model  of  our  own, 
with  like  institutions,  civil,  literary,  and  religious, 
and  composed  of  Africans  and  descendants  of  Afri- 
cans, most  of  whom  were  emancipated  from  bondage 
in  this  country  for  the  purpose,  some  of  whom  were 
recaptured  from  slave  "ships,  and  a  small  part  of 
whom  are  adopted  natives  that  have  come  in  to  join 


364  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

them.  There  is  Christian  civilization  and  the  go- 
vernment  of  law;  Xhere  is  a  civil  jurisprudence  and 
polity;  ihtre  are  courts  and  magistrates,  judges  and 
lawyers;  there  are  numerous  Christian  churches, 
well  supplied  with  ministers  of  the  gospel;  {here  are 
schools,  public  libraries,  and  a  respectable  system  of 
public  education;  [here  is  a  public  press  and  two 
journals,  one  monthly,  and  one  semi-monthly;  there 
are  rising  towns  and  villages;  there  are  the  useful 
trades  and  mechanic  arts,  a  productive  agriculture 
and  increasing  commerce;  in  their  harbours  are  to  be 
found  ships  trading  with  Europe  and  America,  and 
the  exports  are  increasing  from  year  to  year;  and 
all  this  the  creation  of  somewhat  less  than  twenty 
years — an  achievement  of  which  there  is  no  parallel 
in  history." 

Now  is  not  such  a  community  pre-eminently 
adapted  to  promote  civilization  in  Africa,  to  de- 
velop her  physical  resources,  to  augment  and  give 
impulse  to  her  legitimate  trade  and  commerce,  and 
thus  to  prove  the  great  and  efficient  remedy  for  a 
traffic  that  has  burnt  in  upon  her  its  unmitigated 
curses  for  centuries? 

On  this  subject  the  opinions  of  General  Turner, 
late  Governor  of  Sierra  Leone,  are  entitled  to  great 
weight.  Mr.  Buxton,  who  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  his  views  in  reference  to  this  matter,  was  irre- 
sistibly led  from  General  Turner's  great  experience 
and  extensive  observation,  to  the  conclusion  (I  give 
his  own  words)  "  That  the  true  way  to  suppress  the 
slave  trade  and  to  extricate  Africa  from  its  present 
abyss  of  misery,  is  to  be  found  in  friendly  inter- 
course with  the   natives;   in  the  encouragement  of 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN   SLAVE  TRADE.  365 

their  legitimate  trade,  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil, 
and  in  alliances  with  them  for  the  suppression  of  the 
slave  traffic."  Now  do  not  our  colonies  fulfil  pre- 
cisely all  these  conditions?  Their  intercourse  with 
the  natives  is  of  the  most  friendly  kind; — they  en- 
courage trade  with  them; — and  they  give  them  a 
practical  illustration  of  the  right  culture  of  the  soil 
on  the  colonial  farms.  The  government  of  Liberia 
has  also  formed  alliances  and  entered  into  treaties  of 
amity  and  trade  with  about  two  hundred  thousand 
of  the  native  tribes,  one  invariable  condition  of 
which  treaties  is  that  the  natives  shall  in  no  icay, 
directly  nor  indirectly,  aid  or  abet  the  slave  trade  or 
connive  at  it  in  any  form, — that  they  shall  abandon 
some  of  their  barbarous  usages  and  protect  and  foster 
American  missions.  Already  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
thousand  of  the  native  Africans  have  voluntarily 
become  subject  to  the  laws  of  Liberia,  thrown  aside 
the  badges  of  their  superstition  and  idolatry,  con- 
formed their  costume  and  their  social  habits  to  the 
requisitions  of  civilized  life,  and  many  of  them  at- 
tend public  worship  on  the  Sabbath  in  the  colonial 
churches. 

The  English  language,  that  great  vehicle  of  the 
knowledge  of  civilization  and  of  a  pure  Christianity, 
has  already  penetrated  more  than  two  hundred  miles 
into  the  interior,  and  awakened  among  chiefs  and 
people  a  spirit  of  inquiry  and  a  strong  desire  for  the 
establishment  of  schools  to  instruct  them  in  the  arts 
and  usages  of  civilized  life  and  the  truths  of  the 
Christian  religion. 

What  a  change  in  a  little  more  than  twenty  years! 
The  whole  territory  now  occupied   by  the  common- 
31* 


366  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

wealth  of  Liberia  was  lately  one  vast  theatre  of  slave- 
trading  and  all  kinds  of  savage  enormities.  Now 
there  is  not  a  slave  factory  between  the  two  ex- 
tremes of  colonial  jurisdiction.  It  is  computed  that 
the  existence  and  influence  of  this  commonwealth  on 
the  western  coast  prevents  the  exportation  of  nearly 
fifty  thousand  slaves  annually  from  that  part  of  Africa. 
Besides,  the  protection  and  encouragement  which 
the  colonies  afford  to  Christian  missions,  enables  those 
colonies  thus  incidentally  to  exert  the  most  certain 
of  all  civilizing  influences  on  savage  men — the  in- 
fluence of  the  gospel — and  so  paves  the  way  for  an 
indefinite  progress  by  the  natives  in  social,  political 

and  religious  improvement Such  colonies  as 

ours  then,  British  philanthropists  themselves  being 
judges,  contain  all  the  elements  of  Africa's  intel- 
lectual, social,  civil  and  religious  redemption,  and 
constitute  the  grand  and  only  effective  remedy  for 
that  monstrous  traffic  in  her  children  which  has 
covered  Christendom  with  guilt  and  Africa  with 
more  than  funeral  gloom  for  ages. 

Now  had  colonization  no  tendency  to  furnish  an 
asylum  for  the  disfranchised  coloured  man  of  this 
country — no  tendency  to  place  him  in  circumstances 
where,  unimpeded  by  prejudice  and  privileged  com- 
petition, he  can  enjoy  social  equality,  political  rights 
and  liberty  with  all  the  avenues  to  wealth,  to  civil, 
intellectual  and  moral  distinctions  open  before  him, 
and  with  all  the  lures  to  the  loftiest  hopes  and  no- 
blest aspirations  of  human  nature  gathering  their  re- 
sistless attractions  upon  him — did  this  enterprise  do 
nothing  more,  directly  nor  indirectly,  than  to  furnish 
Africa  with  so  admirable  a  model  settlement  of  her 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  367 

owQ  descendants  as  the  colonics  of  Liberia  now  pre- 
sent, tills  alone,  in  its  civilizing  and  Christianizing  in- 
fluence on  Africa  herself,  and  in  its  bearings  on  the 
ultimate  and  entire  overthrow  of  her  slave  trade, 
would  entitle  colonization  to  the  rank  which  that  en- 
lightened statesman,  the  late  Hon.  Roger  M.  Sher- 
man, assigned  it  as  "  amongst  the  noblest  schemes 
of  benevolence  in  the  nineteenth  century  P^  This 
alone  ought  to  claim  for  it  the  sympathies,  the  pray- 
ers and  the  liberal  patronage  of  the  patriots,  the  phi- 
lanthropists and  Christians  of  the  whole  civilized 
world!  And  it  is  this  aspect  or  bearing  of  the  en- 
terprise on  the  temporal  and  spiritual  interests  and 
destinies  of  the  teeming  millions  of  Africa  which  the 
providence  of  God  is  now  rendering  most  prominent 
and  full  of  promise  to  that  benighted,  afflicted  conti- 
nent. 

How  true  that  the  thoughts  of  the  great,  Eternal 
Mind  are  not  as  our  thoughts.  While  we  hitherto 
have  been  contemplating  colonization  in  its  bearing 
on  the  free  coloured  people  and  the  slaves  of  our 
own  country,  and  striving  by  it  (and  that  too  "  in  a 
great  fight  of  affliction  ")  to  ameliorate  the  condi- 
tion of  the  one  class,  and  to  secure  the  liberty  of  the 
other,  even  on  a  small  scale,  it  would  seem  that  the 
Infinite  Mind  has  given  an  unthought-of  grandeur 
to  our  scheme,  by  adopting  it  as  a  far  reaching  in- 
strumentality of  blessings  to  a  vast  continent,  to  the 
number  of  whose  inhabitants  all  the  coloured  people 
here,  are  but  as  the  dust  in  the  balance.  Thus  it 
would  appear  that  within  the  exterior  and  obvious 
form  of  our  simple  enterprise,  and  concealed  from 
all  but  the  Omniscient  eye,  laid  those  sublime  ele- 


ob»  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

mental  principles  of  Africa's  social,  political,  and  re- 
ligious regeneration,  which  need  only  to  be  energized 
by  Omnipotence  and  controlled  by  a  hand  divine,  in 
order  to  work  out  some  of  the  most  stupendous  re- 
sults ever  witnessed  in  the  national  redemption  and 
elevation  of  human  nature!  How  w^onderful  the 
counsels  of  the  Most  High!  What  if  it  should  be 
found  that  amidst  the  darkness  and  depression  of 
her  exiled  sons  here  for  nearly  two  centuries,  God 
has  been  calmly,  silently,  and  unseen,  just  as  he 
forms  the  diamond  in  nature,  elaborating  that  rich 
gem  of  civilization  that  now  begins  to  sparkle  as  a 
brilliant  on  Africa's  bleeding  bosom. 

If  there  be  "  a  thread  that  determines  the  place 
of  every  bead  in  the  necklace"  of  individual  and 
national  destiny,  then  when  Africa  at  last  exchanges 
her  dark  zone  for  a  girdle  of  jewels  glittering  with 
the  light  of  science  and  religion,  who  shall  predict 
that  it  uill  not  be  found  that  colonization  has  spun 
the  silken  thread  which  binds  them  all  in  their 
beauteous  order?  And  if  this  be  only  in  the  slight- 
est degree  probable,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  pro- 
fessed philanthropy  that  would  break  this  thread  ?  Is 
it  wise,  patriotic  or  benevolent,  to  attempt  to  em- 
barrass or  destroy  an  experiment  for  Africa's  re- 
demption, which  promises  to  bless  her  hundred  and 
fifty  millions,  because  it  will  not  confer  immediate 
social  and  political  freedom  on  some  three  millions 
of  her  hapless  sons  in  this  country?  Is  it  enlightened, 
disinterested,  magnanimous  sympathy  for  the  ivliole 
coloured  race  which  dictates  determined  opposition  to 
the  only  plan  that  for  centuries  has  promised  to  fur- 
nish a  fair  opportunity  for  the  coloured   man  to  test 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  369 

by  actual  experiment,  what  he  can  make  himself  to 
be  in  the  scale  of  intellectual,  social,  and  political 
existence,  when  his  lohole  nature  is  free,  and  on  an 
arena  wide  as  his  capacities,  and  free  too  as  his  na- 
ture, and  every  hope  and  aspiration,  every  generous 
impulse  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  his  energies, 
is  proffering  him  its  aid? 

In  a  future  age  I  doubt  not  that  the  organized  oppo- 
sition and  deadly  hostility  shown  by  some  towards 
this  noble  attempt  for  Africa's  disenthralment  and 
regeneration  will  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
singular  and  inexplicable  facts  in  the  history  of 
this  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.*  And  yet  I 
am  not  sure  but  that  this  is  the  very  fact  on 
which  a  profound  and  far-sighted  Christian  phi- 
losopher would  fix  his  firmest  expectations  of  great 
and  glorious  ulterior  issues.  For,  it  is  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  ANTAGONISM,  that  the  infinite  God  himself 
has  wTOught  out  some  of  the  grandest  problems  of 
his  moral  government.  The  loyalty  and  holiness 
of  Heaven's  first-born  sons  were  tested  by  the  op- 
posing forces  of  temptation  and  sin.  x\nd  who 
may  say  whether  Gabriel  himself  would  ever  have 
stood  so  high,  or  shone  so  brightly,  had  not  Lucifer 
fell  like  lightning  by  his  side  and  subjected  him  to 
the  shock  of  opposition  ?  What  great  or  good  thing 
in  the  empire  of  Jehovah  has  escaped  the  action  of 
antagonistic  forces,  or  been  exempt  from  the  strug- 
gles and  the  throes  of  conflict? 

*  The  author  is  willing  to  believe  that  some  good  men  who  arc  really- 
interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  coloured  race,  have  been  mduced  to  op- 
pose colonization  through  misrepresentations  respecting  its  character, 
and  misapprehensions  as  to  its  legitimate  aims  and  bearings.  But  for 
the  one  who  commenced  the  crusade,  and  for  those  that  have  rallied 
round  his  standard  no  such  charitable  supposition  can  be  entertained. 


370   ,  A  PERMANENT  REMEDY 

Christianity  itself,  in  the  immaculate  person  of  its 
Divine  founder,  was  hunted  down  by  the  fiercest  op- 
position from  the  manger  in  Bethlehem  to  the  cross 
on  Calvary,  and  from  the  cross  to  the  tomb  of  Joseph, 
where  the  rancour  of  Jewish  hate  held  its  jealous 
vigils  till  stunned  and  overpowered  by  the  glories 
of  the  resurrection  !  Christ  had  to  endure  the  con- 
tradiction of  sinners  asrainst  himself  The  great 
Captain  of  our  salvation  was  made  perfect  through 
suffering.  It  is  a  deeply  affecting  thought  that  the 
light  of  the  glorious  Sun  of  Righteousness  himself 
had  to  struggle  through  clouds,  and  ^'  has  woven  its 
rainbows  "  of  promise  to  man  on  a  *'^  back  ground  of 
eternal  black!'' 

Had  colonization  been  of  more  doubtful  tendency 
and  bearing  (than  facts  prove  it  has  been)  on  the 
present  and  prospective  condition  of  long  neglected 
Africa,  one  might  suppose  that  the  sympathies  owed 
her  by  the  Christian  world  would  have  effectually 
curbed  all  opposition,  till  the  scheme  had  been  fairly 
tested  and  proved  by  incontestable  experiment  to  be 
a  failure.  I  say,  the  sympathies  oived  her  by  the 
world.  For  who  can  avoid  an  emotion  of  strange 
and  even  sublime  sorrow  when  musing  on  the  mys- 
terious and  mournful  destinies  of  that  ill-starred  con- 
tinent, bereaved  annually  of  nearly  jialf  a  million  of 
her  hapless  children,  not  by  the  visitations  of  natural 
death  or  by  physical  calamity,  but  by  that  violence 
and  reckless  rapine  and  murder,  which  are  deaf  to 
every  cry  save  that  of  an  inexorable  and  fiendish 
cupidity!     Poor,  bleeding  Africa!  ! 

"The  Niobe  of  nations — there  she  stands, 
Childless  and  crownless  in  her  voiceless  wo." 


FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE.  371 

Her  weeds  of  mourning  have  never  been  laid 
iside  for  centuries.  Her  cheeks  have  never  been 
.Tee  from  tears  of  the  bitterest  bereavement.  Her 
long  and  starless  night  of  desolation  as  yet  has  been 
succeeded  by  no  bright  and  blessed  morning! 

For  some  inscrutable  reason  in  the  counsels  of 
Heaven,  Africa  has  been  longest  doomed  to  the  unas- 
suaged  woes  of  man's  moral  overthrow  in  Eden,  and 
has  been  the  very  last  to  share  in  that  august  move- 
ment which  human  nature  under  the  gospel,  is  now 
makingtowards  its  triumph  over  the  ruins  of  theapos- 
tacy  and  the  attainment  of  its  highest  terrestrial  desti- 
nies. Through  darkness  and  storm  and  conflict,  co- 
lonization has  struggled  and  succeeded  in  locating  on 
her  coast  the  elemental  forces  of  this  grand  move- 
ment for  Africa.  It  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  greatest 
experiments  ever  made  on  human  society  !  It  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  thrilling,  ineflable  interest  to  earth  and 
heaven.  It  aims  to  influence  ultimately  in  all  their 
dearest  interests,  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of 
immortal  minds  hitherto  and  prospectively,  as  it 
would  seem,  to  a  great  extent,  beyond  the  reach  of 
any  other  instrumentality.  For  aught  that  any  man 
dares  now  predict,  their  hopes  and  happiness  for  two 
worlds  may  be  found,  in  the  evolution  of  the  Divine 
purposes,  to  be  involved  in  and  identified  with  the 
success  of  this  experiment!  It  aims  to  remove  the 
covering  from  all  faces,  to  wp/ieaz^e  and  throw  ofi" the  su- 
perincumbent masses  of  superstition,  paganism,  crime 
and  curses,  that  for  centuries  have  crushed  a  fifth 
part  of  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  the  human  race, 
into  the  lowest  deep  of  moral  degradation.  It  aims 
to  develop  the  physical  resources  of  a  vast  continent, 


372  A  REMEDY  FOR  THE  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE. 

to  evolve  and  give  play  to  the  mental  faculties  of  its 
myriad  population,  to  awaken  the  high  hopes  and 
infinite  aspirations  that  will  fit  Africa  for  those  grand 
and  exalted  enterprises  which  will  bring  her  up  to 
the  level  and  make  her  a  full  partner  with  the  other 
nations,  in  all  the  stupendous  blessings  of  the  world's 
long-looked-for  social,  political,  and  spiritual  millen- 
nium! 


FINIS. 


%  J^ 


/V   • 


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